Strange Circumstances
by KayKayeLLe
Summary: FINISHEDSomething life changing happens to Mary, and the only one who can comfort her is Wilson.
1. Default Chapter

**NOTE: I COMBINED CHAPTERS!!! Chap. 1 and 2 is now Chap. 1, Chap. 3 and 4 is now Chap. 2, etc.**

*********I do not own any of these characters or 7th heaven. They belong to Brenda Hampton. This is my first published story; so let me know what you think. Keep in mind though, I'm only a teen. This story takes place during the fourth season (I think), when Robbie tries to get Mary to sleep with him. Please r/r************

Mary ran away, tears streaming down her face. _How could this happen? I'm a good girl. What do I do now?_ She was confused and hurt. She was too far from home to walk there. It was 11 o'clock at night and pitch black outside. She begins to finds her bearings in this part of Glenoak, and tries to think of someone nearby that could help her. _Wilson! No, I couldn't I'm too embarrassed. He would help me though, and he'll end up finding out eventually. I'll just go there. _She approaches Wilson's parents house, where he is now staying, and begins to walk up the steps to the front door. She rings the bell, and struggles to gain composure. Wilson answers the door.  

"Mary? What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"Wilson, can you help me, please?"

"Um…sure. With what?"

"Robbie took me to a motel tonight, to try to get me to have sex with him. I punched him in the nose, but that didn't help, it only made him madder. He got really angry and started getting rough, and he…"

"He what?"

"He raped me." Tears start to stream down her face, and she is barely able to speak between the sobs. "I was able to run away from him, but I didn't know where to go. It was too far for me to walk home. I hope you don't mind me bothering you."

"No, that's OK."

"Can you help me? I don't know what to do."

"Sure, um, I think you should go to the hospital. They should be able to help you."

"OK."

"I'll take you."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Mom, can you watch Billy for me? I have to go out. Mary, you go sit in my car. I'm just going to call your parents to tell them you're with me."

"Don't tell them what happened, please."

"Ok, if that's what you want."

Mary goes to sit in Wilson's car, just like she was told. A couple of minutes later, Wilson comes out of the house and gets in the car. They drive silently for 3 minutes, before Wilson speaks.

"I'm sorry. I don't know what to say to you. Is there anything else I can do?"

"No, you're doing plenty. Thank you."

"It's nothing, really. I feel so bad for you though."

"I can't believe he did this to me. This is all my fault. I should have known better. I shouldn't have punched him; I started all of this. I feel so dirty. I'm never going to be clean again. I feel so violated."

"This is not your fault. There is something wrong with him. He's a jerk."

"I know. Wilson what if I'm pregnant?"

"I don't know. You're strong though Mare, and you can get through anything. You'll get through this."

They pull up to the hospital, and Wilson starts to walks her into the emergency room. Halfway through the parking lot, Mary stops and breaks down in tears. He hugs her, and she buries her face in his chest. "Oh Wilson," she says, her voice muffled by his sweater. Once inside, he tells the nurse at the desk that Mary has been raped. She gives him forms for her to fill out, plus some additional ones for rape. She fills them out, and she is called into the exam room. Wilson walks out of the emergency room to use the payphone. He dials the Camden household in attempts to clarify his earlier call.

"Reverend Camden? Its Wilson."

"Hi Wilson. Where are you?"

"Well, were at the hospital. Mary just got called into the exam room."

"What happened? Is everything ok?"

"No, everything's not OK. I promised Mary I wouldn't tell you what happened, but I wouldn't be comfortable telling you over the phone anyways."

"Should we come down there?"

"Yeah, I think you should."

"OK, we'll leave right now. Thanks for calling us again."

"Your welcome."

 Wilson sits by himself, wondering what he should do. _Should I stay or should I leave? What do I say to the Camdens when they get here? Should I tell them?_ He gets wrapped up in his thoughts, and before he knew it Rev. and Mrs. Camden were walking into the room.

"Wilson! What happened to Mary?"

"Well, why don't you go in and find out for yourself. I would be in there with her now, but they only allow in one family member, and they already know I'm not family."

"I'll go, you stay here Annie with Wilson."

"So Wilson, you won't tell us what happened but she's not OK?"

"Yeah basically, sorry. She made me promise her."

"Its OK I guess, Eric will find out soon enough. So how did you and Mary end up together tonight? I thought she was out with Robbie."

"She was, but then she came to me for help."

"What happened to Robbie?"

"Good question. I don't know."

The room is pretty quiet, but the silence interrupted by the sound of Eric screaming from inside the exam room. "HE WHAT?!" can be heard throughout the entire lower level of the Glenoak Community hospital.

"Was that Eric?"

"Probably"

Reverend Camden storms out of the room and into the waiting room to Annie's side. He looks like he's just seen a ghost.

"What happened?"

"Muh….muh…"

"Yes?"

"M-Mary was…was raped."

"Oh my god! By Robbie?"

"Yes."

"My poor baby! I have to see her."

"I'm going to call Sergeant Michaels. I knew Robbie was no good."

Eric and Annie both storm off in different directions, leaving Wilson all alone._ I'm going to sit here and wait until Mary comes out. I hope everything's going to be okay. I feel so bad for her._ Twenty minutes later, Mary and Annie return from the exam room, both with red eyes from crying. Mary has a stack of papers in her hand, and is hugging herself tightly. "Let's go find your father." Annie says to her. "Can I stay here with Wilson for a second?" Mary asks. She nods, and leaves the room.

"Are you OK?"

"No, not really. I feel dirty; I have to take a shower, maybe two."

"What do you have in your hand?"

"Some papers they gave me to read about rape."

"Oh. Do you want me to do anything for you?"

"No, you did plenty. Thank you."

"Your welcome."

"Wilson, I'm so scared. I could be pregnant or have an STD. They did tests, but the results take some time. What am I going to do? I can't deal with this."

"You'll be fine. And whatever happens, you can get through it, and if you want I'll help you."

"You'd do that, really?"

"Yeah, sure. Just call me whenever you need anything. I'll help you get through this, no matter what. I'm here for you if you need me"

She nods, and he gives her a hug. She leans her head on his shoulder and cries. Annie and Eric reenter the room to get Mary, and are taken aback by the sight before them. "Ahem. Mary, ready to go home?" Eric asks. She pulls away from Wilson, and joins her parents. They all say their goodbyes, and start to leave the hospital. "I'll call you in a couple of days to see how you are. Don't worry; everything's going to be just fine." Wilson tells Mary, and walks to his car. 

During the car ride home, Rev. and Mrs. Camden try to find out exactly what happened tonight. 

"Do you want to talk?"

"No, but I'll tell you anyways. Robbie took me to a motel tonight to try and sleep with me. He tried to put his hand on my shoulder, and I punched him in the nose. He got really mad at me, and started to get very forceful. He dragged me into the room and raped me. When he finished with me, I was able to run away. I was too far from home to be able to walk, but I knew I was near Wilson's house. I panicked and knocked on his door and he brought me to the hospital."

"Oh honey. Everything will be OK. You'll get through this. The whole family will be here for you."

"Please don't tell them tonight. I'll tell them tomorrow when I'm ready. I just don't want them to know right now."

"Ok hunny. But you definitely have to tell them tomorrow."

"I know"

They pull into the driveway, and get out of the minivan. They open the front door to find Matt, Lucy, Simon, and Ruthie all standing there. "What happened?" they all ask at once. "Your sister will tell you all what happened when she's ready. Don't bug her about it; she's had a long night. And, now that I think of it, so have all of you. Go to bed." Eric tells them, and they scurry up the stairs except for Matt. "Dad, Sergeant Michaels called for you about a half hour ago. He said to call him back tonight." He goes up the stairs, and wait for Mary at the top of them. 

"Sergeant Michaels told me what happened. Where's Robbie? I'm going to kill him!"

"I don't know, I ran away from him. Look, Matt I don't want to talk right now. I'll talk later."

He hugs her, and she pushes him off of her. "Don't hug me. I'm dirty. I have to get clean; I'm taking a shower." 

She runs into the bathroom and starts up the shower. She scrubs and scrubs, but doesn't feel clean. After about an hour, she gets out of the bathroom and goes into her room. Her dad is waiting for her in there. "I called Sergeant Michaels. He says that you have to go down to the station in the morning and tell the detective what happened if we want to file a report. Your mother and I will go down there with you if you want us to. Get some sleep now, it's been a long day." He walks out, and Mary falls face down on her bed. She cries for a long time, and thinks about what she should do. _I don't want to go tell some stranger what happened to me. That's creepy. It's too early; I'm not ready. This is awful. I wish I were anyone else but myself right now. And I have to tell all of my siblings tomorrow, too. This is too much. I can't do this. I need help._ She rolls over and looks at the clock. It says 3:30. She picks up the phone and dials Wilson's number. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello?"

"Wilson? Its Mary."

"Hi. You OK?"

"No. I can't do this. I have to tell everyone tomorrow about what happened, plus a detective at the police station in the morning. This is too much."

"Well, maybe you can take it one step at a time. Do you want me to do anything?"

"I don't know. I just-" She breaks up and starts to cry. 

He sympathizes with her. "I know your hurting. Did you get any sleep yet?"

"No. I'm not really tired, and I couldn't sleep if I tried. Did you?"

"No, I've been thinking about you. Look, um, do you want to talk? I could rive over there if that's OK with you and you're parents."

"That'd be nice. Maybe we could just sit and watch some T.V. though."

He laughs, "Ok. I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"Thank you."

Mary walks downstairs and waits for Wilson to get there. She goes into the kitchen to get some tea, and is startled to see her parents still sitting there. "Um…I called Wilson; I couldn't sleep. He's coming over to talk with me. I hope that's OK. We won't be too loud." She tells them. "That's fine. But sooner or later your going to have to talk with us you know. We want to help you through this." Her father says. "I'm going to need some time." She says, all expression gone from her voice. They can see the pain in her eyes, and all they can do is nod. 

There is a knock at the door, and Mary answers it. Wilson is standing there with some paper and two pens. 

"What's this?"

"Well, I was thinking and I know that you kind of don't want to talk. So I figured you could write. You can write everything your feeling, and I'm going to write something to you. You don't have to write for me to see it, though, you write for yourself. Unless if you'd rather talk…"

"No, that's a good idea. I like it."

They walk into the family room and sit down on the couch. They write for a while, and don't say a word. Wilson looks at Mary writing furiously, and figures that this really was a good idea. After about an hour, the sun starts to come up. Realizing it was time for him to go, Wilson looks up from his paper. He sees that Mary has fallen asleep at the other end of the couch. He folds his letter and places it on Mary's stomach, and gets up to leave. He steps on a squeaky floorboard and Mary stirs. She opens her eyes and sees Wilson leaving. "Wilson, wait." She says, and hands him her letter. "I don't remember if I finished it though." He smiles and grabs the papers. "Sleep," he says, "you've got a busy day ahead of you. It's five o'clock in the morning. I'll talk to you later. Good luck with everything. Good night." 

Mary rolls over and tries to go back to sleep. After five minutes, she realizes that she's now wide-awake. The events of last night begin to sink in, and tears start to form in her eyes. She quickly stops them, though, and grabs Wilson's letter.

_Mary,_

_Since you told me what happened to you, I've been worried about you. I can't even fathom how you are feeling, especially being well aware of your morals. I know from experience that it has not always been easy for you to live up to them. Now, it's almost as is they have been stolen from you. I can't even begin to imagine what that must feel like. _

_I sympathize with how you are feeling though. In my opinion, the worst part of all of this is that someone has changed your personal definition of "sex" without any bit of your consent. From what I understand, you were brought up believing that sex was a wonderful thing to be shared with someone you love and were bonded together with through marriage. And even though I was never really married, I can tell you that all of that is true. Now you probably think that sex is wrong, and scary, and dirty. I feel bad about that, because you will be scarred for life. _

_I realize, though, that I cannot empathize with you. I will never know truly what you are going through or how you feel no matter how well you explain it to me. You are experiencing hurt that I will never even begin to feel. Watching you in all of that pain hurts me. I wish that I could take some of it from you, or that we could share it, so that you wouldn't feel so bad. I guess the next best thing to doing that though is to help you to get through it. Like I said before, I am here for you whenever you need me. I'll help you through everything that I can. You're going to have some tough times ahead of you, and I will be there for you if you want me to be._

_I want to finish by telling you that yes; I do have feelings for you. I know you Mary; I know what's going through your head. And yes, I do love you. It's not the type of love you might think though; it's the friendly type. Right now, my feelings are all feelings of friendship. That is where they are going to stay for a LONG while, for your sake. But I do want to be your friend. I believe that just because I am your ex, doesn't mean that we can't be friends. I know more about you than you think, and I can be a better friend than you are willing to realize. I care about you, and I hate to see you like you were today. What I want, though it doesn't matter right now, is for us to remain friends, and for me to help you through this so you can return back to being that happy, carefree Mary Camden everyone knows and loves.  You know where to reach me if you want to talk, and I am more than happy to listen. Keep your head up high and remain strong. You can overcome this. If you have any doubts, I'm here for you. Now go back to sleep!_

_                                                -Wilson_

A smile comes across Mary's face, as she rolls over to try to get some sleep. _I hope he understands my letter._ After 10 minutes, Mary gets up and walks up stairs. _If Wilson wants to help me that much, then think of how my parents must feel. I guess I'll let them talk to me; I'm just not in the mood right now, though._ She knocks on the door of her parent's bedroom.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure sweetie. Are you feeling any better today?" her mother asks her.

"I don't know. A little; not really." She sits down on the bed, and begins to cry. Her mother puts her arms around her, but Mary pulls them off. 

"Don't touch me!" her mother is hurt, and Mary tries to explain. "Sorry. I just don't want anyone touching me."

"What time did Wilson leave?" Eric asks sternly.

"Actually, about 15 minutes ago. We stayed up writing. I fell asleep, but when he went to leave he woke me up." 

"Oh. So you did get some sleep?"

"Only 20 minutes worth. I'm not tired though. But I couldn't sleep if I tried; my thoughts are too loud; they keep me awake. I don't know what to do. Dad, you counseled people who have been raped, where do I go from here?"

"Well, that's the thing. You're going to need counseling. And not counseling from me, from someone else; maybe Reverend Hamilton. And besides that, as long as everything is OK with you physically, you'll just have to wait. Time heals all wounds, and eventually things will go back to normal. We're all here to support you no matter what Mary. We love you very much."

"I know."

"But, we all can't help you if we all don't know." Annie says. "Have you figured out how you're going to tell them?"

"Yeah, I have. I think I'll do it now; get it over with." 

She walks out of the room and into her bedroom. "Luce, do you have any paper?" she asks. Lucy hands her two sheets, and Mary takes them. She rips off three strips, and writes a message on each.  On two of them, she writes "Last night, Robbie raped me." On the third she writes. "Last night I was raped. Ask mom to explain it to you." She hands one of the first two to Lucy, the next to Simon, and the last one to Ruthie. Then she runs down the stairs to get away from it all. At that moment, Eric walks down the hallway. Lucy swings open the door to her bedroom, "Oh my god, Where's Mary?!" Next is Simon, "Where's Mary? I want to talk to her." He is followed by Ruthie, "Where's Mommy?". Caught off guard, he answers "Your mother is in the bedroom. I don't know where Mary is, but leave her alone right now. Don't ambush her all at once." 

Reverend Camden walks down the stairs and finds Mary in the kitchen. 

"They all want to talk to you."

"I know, but I don't know what to say to them. That's why I told them the way I did." 

"Well, maybe they could sit down with you privately, not all at once, and you can answer their questions if you're ready to. We could do it tonight; I think they'd all appreciate it. What do you say to that?"

"Um…I have to make a phone call."

She runs upstairs to her bedroom and grabs the phone. Lucy looks up from a textbook she is studying from and stares through, not at, Mary. "I have to make a phone call. Can a have a couple of minutes?" she asks Lucy, implying for her to leave. "Oh…um…yeah. Sure." Lucy walks out and Mary picks up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Wilson? It's Mary. I hate to bother you again, but I was wondering if you could do me a favor."

"What?"

"Could you come over sometime this afternoon or tonight. Everyone knows now, and my dad wants me to talk to everyone, one by one, and answer all of their questions. I was wondering if you'd sit with me and help me through it while I talk to all of them. I can't do it by myself."

"Um…sure if that's what you want. But don't you want to be alone while you talk with your family? I don't want to intrude.

"No. I need you to help me."

"Ok. I have to see if I can get my mom to watch Billy again, though."

"Bring Billy over here. Someone will watch him, I promise." 

"Ok. So around what time?"

"Whatever's good for you."

"4:30 OK?"

"Yeah, that's fine. Thanks so much."

"Your welcome."

"Bye"

Mary walks back downstairs to find her dad sitting in the same spot she had left him. "Did you make your phone call?" he asks her. "Yes. Could I do it at 4:30? Wilson's going to come over and help me." She tells him. "Your mother and I could help you." he says to her. "I know," she replies, "but I want Wilson. He understands me and its easy for me to talk to him; easier than its is for me to talk to you." Her father glares at her, and she realizes what he must be thinking. "Dad," she tells him, "we're only friends. Calm down; I'm not that stupid." "I know, I just don't like the idea of it all, considering what happened to you last night," he says. "But you know Wilson." She pleads. "You know he's a good guy. And we're just friends. What's the big deal?!" Mary storms up the stairs to her bedroom.

At the West house, Wilson is finally getting around to reading Mary's letter.

_Wilson,_

_I really like this idea of yours. First off, I just wanted to thank you for everything today. You've been a huge help. To tell you the truth, you're the only one I can stand to be around. It's weird, though, because at first I was reluctant to come to you. I didn't know what you were going to think, especially because this had to do with Robbie. But I figured that in the end you would come through, and you did. _

_I'm so scared though. You think the scary part would be when it happened, but it's not. Yes, that was scary, too, but to tell you the truth it's all just a blur. It was less than 12 hours ago and I don't even remember it. The scary part is now. I can't stop thinking about possibly being pregnant. I can't have a baby; I'm still a baby myself. I'm not even responsible for my own life. How could I possibly be responsible for the life of someone else? I'm really scared. And if I'm not pregnant, I could have an STD. I'm pretty sure that Robbie wasn't a virgin. What if I get HIV or something else? This isn't fair. I know you said that you'll help me through any of that, but how much can you do? If I get sick, what can you do? If I get pregnant what can you do? You'll sit with me for a while, but that wouldn't make a difference. You'd go home at the end of the day, but it's **my** life, and **my **body. No matter how many times you say, "It's going to be OK" it won't. The thing that hurts even more though is that I really didn't do anything wrong. He was the one who did this to me, but I get stuck with all of the bad stuff (the emotional scarring and all that). _

_But I can already tell though that I'm going to be OK, eventually. There's also kind of a weird feeling I have. I feel completely betrayed. I trusted him, and look what happened. Why should I ever trust anyone again? And I have to say that I **don't** feel like I trust anyone. I don't trust my parents to be there for me, I don't trust my brothers and sisters to understand, and I don't trust myself to make any coherent decisions. The thing that seems strange, though, is that I trust you. I can tell you all of this and still feel that good will come of it; even after all I have been through. That's kind of scary, too, but not surprising. I always trusted you since the day I met you. Whenever I'm with you I feel safe._

_I'm really confused, too. There are all these "what ifs" floating around in my head. Like, what if he comes back? What am I going to do? I don't want to see him again, ever. What if he tries to do this to me again? How do I protect myself? What if he comes after Lucy? I don't know; hopefully he won't. I can't stress on that stuff if I want to get through this, but it's really hard. _

_And you know, I looked at one of those papers they gave me, and it says that usually you need time to recover from this and be by yourself. I don't want to be by myself. I want to be with you Wilson. I…I don't know. Whatever went wrong in our relationship, I'm sorry. I've been thinking about you lately, before all of this happened. You haven't changed at all since I met you. (That's a good thing.) You're still a wonderful guy. Well, thanks again. I'll repay you for this someday, don't worry.  _

_                                                            -Mary_

_p.s. I _do_ want you to help me through this. I need you._

Wilson is touched by the letter, and realizes what he should do next. "C'mon Billy, we're going to the library. Daddy has to look something up."


	3. Chapter 3

"Can we talk? That is, if you want to talk." Lucy asks Mary.

"I'm going to talk to everyone this afternoon, and I'll talk to you then. Right now, I have to go." 

Mary walks downstairs and outside into the minivan where her mother is waiting for her. They are going to the police station together to talk to the detective. They finally arrive, and Mary is getting annoyed. Annie has been saying comforting words the whole ride there and she's sick of them. 

"Mom, stop. Nothing you're going to say is going to make me feel any better or make me want to do this. It's just too soon. You and Dad are already making me talk to everyone today, why do I have to do this too? I don't want to confess everything to a complete stranger! I'm barely OK with telling it to my own family!"

"I know, but if you want to report the rape, you have to do this. I'm sorry."

"What if I don't want to report it then? No one asked me about this."

"Fine then. I'll go inside and tell them you've changed your mind and you don't want to come in."

"Ok."

Mary gets back into the car and starts to cry. _It's OK. It's OK. I'll be all right. Calm down._ Annie comes back out to the car and sees Mary crying. "I know you don't want to talk to any of us, and that's fine. But we all just want to help you. If you refuse to talk though, we are going to force you to go into counseling soon. That's counseling with a professional, not Wilson." She tells her. "What do you guys have against Wilson all of the sudden? You liked him before." Mary says, truly perplexed over her mother's attitude. "We are just looking out for you. We don't want you to get hurt again. Its too quick for you to get into a relationship." Annie says. "Who says we're in a relationship? I don't understand why we can't just be friends. He's coming over today and maybe everyday, so get used to it." She yells, getting angrier by the second. "Mary, you're right. We do like Wilson. It's just that it isn't healthy to attach to him like this. You can't depend on him this much. He has a son and a job, and his own life. He might not be around forever, either. I'm only looking out for you. It would be better if you latched onto, let's say Lucy, for example. Just don't fall too hard too fast Mary." Annie tells her. Rather than try and argue, Mary nods. _I know what she's saying, but she doesn't understand. And so what if I fall for Wilson? At least he'll stay with me and protect me._

Mary goes home and spends the rest of the day staring out her bedroom window, lost in her thoughts. She looks over at her clock, and it reads 4:20. She goes to find her parents. 

"Wilson's going to be here in a few minutes. I'll talk to everyone once he gets here."

"Okay. I'll start rounding everyone up."

Mary walks into the living room to wait for Wilson. Five minutes later he arrives.

"Hi. How are you doing?"

"Not good. I'm really stressed. I've been fighting with me parents all day. They just don't understand."

"Understand what?"

"You and me, or the better the lack of there being a you and me."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't want to cause any problems. We'll go."

"No. You're not going anywhere."

Eric walks into the room, and sees Wilson sitting there. "Wilson! Just the person I wanted to see. Why don't you come talk with me for a minute."

"Sure Reverend."

Mary starts to say something, but stops herself. _Let them talk. I've- we've- got nothing to hide. _"I'll watch Billy for you Wilson." Reverend Camden and Wilson go into the kitchen to talk. Wilson looks nervous, and refrains from making eye contact.

"So, Wilson, how've you been?"

"Fine, sir."

"Look, I'll just cut right to the chase. Are you pursuing this friendship with Mary in hopes of getting back together with her?"

"No, not at all. Mary and I are just friends. And besides, we've already agreed not to be anything more than that for at least a long, long time."

"That's good to hear. But I worry. We both know Mary. Just don't lead her on. She's nowhere near being emotionally ready to start a relationship."

"I realize that, sir. But you don't have to worry, the last thing I want to do is hurt Mary."

"I know, but, well I guess I'm jealous. I want Mary to come to me for help, or at least someone in the family. I really have nothing against you, I just wish she chose a Camden to help see her through all of this."

"Well, trust me, I'm not trying to take her away from you. She's called me for help. I'll suggest to her though that maybe she should start confiding in someone else, someone like you."

"OK, thanks Wilson."

"And believe me, I know what she's doing really isn't normal. I went to the library today and looked up some stuff about rape. I read that usually people who are raped don't really talk to anyone for a long time after it happens. And she's confided so much in me…"

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Well, she told me that when it was happening she wasn't scared."

"Oh really? Well at least she's thinking about it. That's a good start. Thanks for you're time Wilson." 

"You're welcome. I'm glad we had this talk. Mary told me that you and Mrs. Camden have been fighting with her over me. I hope that all will stop now."

"Don't worry, it will. It wasn't intentional, it just happened."

"I know."

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Annie and I will watch Billy for you while you sit in there with Mary."

"OK. Thanks."

The rest of the Camden clan comes down the stairs, and is anxious to talk to Mary.  Wilson walks out of the room, bringing Matt along with him. 

"Mary? Matt's here. Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

Matt walks into the room, and sits down on the couch opposite Mary and Wilson. Mary is sitting there, hugging her knees and holding Wilson's hand. He smiles at her, but she doesn't react.

"I…um, wow. Are you alright?" Matt starts.

"No"

"Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Not really"

"Ok. This is all just, I don't know. I feel so bad for you. You must be feeling awful. How could this have happened? I feel like it's my fault."

"It's not."

"OK. So you know I'm here for you if you need to talk, right?"

"Yup."

"Anything you want to say to me? Tell me about?"

"Nope."

"OK then. I'll send the next person in. Thanks for this great talk Mary. I feel like you really opened up to me."

Wilson gives Matt a look that says "Not now" and he nods. He walks out of the door and is followed by Simon.

"Hi Mary."

"Hi."

"Um, I know you probably really don't want to talk to me, and I don't have much to say either, so I'll make this short. I just wanted to tell you that if you ever wanted to talk you could come to me, but I know you'd probably go to Mom or Lucy instead."

"I know. Thanks."

"Your welcome. You look really tired. How much sleep have you had?"

"Practically none."

"Oh. That explains it. Well, um try to get some sleep. I hope you feel better. I'll send Ruthie in now."

Simon leaves, and Wilson turns to Mary. 

"You haven't had any sleep?"

"I slept a little."

"For how long?"

"Remember when I slept when you were here early this morning?"

"Yeah."

"That was it."

"Mary, that isn't good. You have to get some sleep. No wonder you're so cranky towards all of them. As soon as you're done with them I want you to sleep."

"I can't sleep."

"Why not? You must be exhausted."

"I can't turn off my head. You read my letter. Would you be able to sleep if all of that was floating through your head every two seconds?"

"No, I guess not. But I still want you to sleep."

"Ok, fine. I'll try to."

Ruthie walks through the doors and plops herself down on the couch next to Mary.

"Are you still awake?"

"Yup."

"Ok. So, did it hurt?"

"Well, he was pushing me around, squeezing me, and he threw me onto the bed. That hurt."

"Oh."

"Were you scared?"

"I don't know. I don't remember it all that well."

"How can you not remember it? It was only last night. Are you lying to me?"

Wilson chimes in, "Sometimes when really bad things happen to people, their brain tries to protect them by forgetting what happened."

"Oh. Then how come daddy still remembers about his heart attack?"

"Because he lived through it and he's OK now."

"So Mary's not OK?"

"No, she's not."

Ruthie shrugs her shoulders. "She seems fine to me." She runs out of the room, and Lucy walks in. Mary turns her head the other way; she's too embarrassed to look at her. They sit in silence for a while, and then Lucy finally speaks.

"I'm still in shock. I can't believe this happened to you. I…I don't know what to say."

Silence.

"Do you have anything to say to me?"

Silence. 

"Ok. Are you alright?"

Silence, again.

"That's a stupid question. You couldn't be all right. I wouldn't be all right if I were you. I'd be a wreck."

Still more silence

"Why aren't you talking to me?!"

"Because I'm ashamed, ok!"

"Why, you didn't do anything wrong. This is not your fault."

"Because, when I look at you, I see perfection. I feel tainted; like no one will ever want me. I feel like a rotten piece of fruit." Mary says, eerily calm, with out raising her voice and with no expression.

"Don't feel like that. I'm far from perfect, and you're not as far as you think."

Silence yet again.

"Ok, what I really want to know is why you aren't flipping out. It's weird. If I were you I would be crying uncontrollably or something. I know I'm more emotional than you , but you have to be feeling something. Why are you so calm about all of this?"

"I think its because I have Wilson. I'm really not this calm, I swear, but when he sits with me I just feel so content. I still feel everything I was feeling before, but now that he's sitting here with me all of those feelings are suppressed." 

She raises Wilson's hand with hers and puts both of them on her knee. She lifts her head and looks into his eyes, as he stares back into hers. He squeezes her hand and she blushes. Tears form in her eyes as she comes back to reality. She turns to face Lucy.

"Look, I realize that you want to talk about all of this, but I really don't. So please be patient, give me a couple of days, and then we'll talk again. I promise. Ok?"

Lucy nods, and walks out of the room, leaving Wilson and Mary alone on the couch. 

"OK, if that's everyone I'm going to go. You need to get some sleep. You look really tired."

"No, stay, please. I don't want to be left here alone with all of them."

"Um…Mare, I think I should tell you something. I talked with your dad before. He said that all your family wants is for you to take comfort in spending time with them, not me. And after listening to all of this today, I agree that's exactly what they want. I'm here to help you, but I almost feel like you're hiding. You spend time with me so you don't have to deal with listening to them. Sooner or later, you're going to have to listen. I enjoy spending time with you, I really do, but you have to spend time with your family, too."

"That's not the only reason I want you here with me. Everything I said to Lucy before I meant with all my heart. I feel so safe and connected when I'm with you. When you weren't with me today, I felt all confused. You help me to see things clearly and I thought you understood me. I guess you don't."

"I do understand you. I get it, all of it. I'm just saying it wouldn't be a bad idea to spend me time with your family."

"I know, but I need you. I can't imagine getting through this if you weren't here to help me. You can't just leave me."

"I won't. If you really want me to stay that badly I'll stay. Just think about what I said."

"Ok. I will."

"How about I go get Billy and we sit and watch some T.V. for a little while."

"Sure. I'll find something for us to watch."

Wilson leaves the room and Mary switches on the T.V. She flips through the channels until she finds something all three of them might enjoy. Eventually, she comes upon "The Lion King" _Perfect, a Disney movie._ Billy and Wilson come into the room. Billy jumps onto the couch next to Mary, and a huge smile comes across his face. "'The Lion King', my favorite!" he shrieks, and is instantly glued to the television, in his own world. Wilson sits down on the opposite side of Mary. He puts his arm around her and says, "Here. Lie down; try to get some sleep." She nods and leans against him, putting her head on his chest. After 15 minutes she is asleep. 

The movie eventually ends, and Wilson gently shakes Mary awake.

"The movie's over. We're going to go. You going to be OK?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Ok. I'll call you tomorrow. Go back to sleep."

            Wilson and Billy walk out the door, and Mary goes upstairs to go to back sleep. She sleeps for eight and a half hours, from 6:30 to 3:00. Suddenly, she starts to scream in her sleep. "No! I'm sorry! Don't do that! I said no! Robbie let go of me! No! Don't touch me!" Lucy hears her cries, and rushes over to wake her up. She shakes Mary until she wakes up. Lucy sees the fear in her eyes, and is frozen. "Um…you were screaming in your sleep," is all she could manage to get out. No knowing what to do, she goes and tells her parents. Her mother storm through the door almost instantly after Lucy leaves and runs to hug Mary.

"Were you having a bad dream?"

"Yeah, sort of. More like bad reality."

"Oh, sweetie. It'll be OK. You're home and you're safe. We're all here; nothing bad will happen to you."

"I know. I'm OK now."

Annie reluctantly leaves the room, but lingers outside their door for a second to make sure she was really all right. Mary lies back down and rolls over in her bed and starts to cry. _That was really scary. I'm not Ok. I don't want to call Wilson again. I'll just wait till the morning. I should be all right._


	4. Chapter 4

Mary wakes up early the next morning, and goes outside to play basketball. She's still shook up about last night, but hopes playing will help get her mind off things. She misses every shot, and feels awful. She sits down on the picnic bench to think. But of course as soon as she sits down, her mother calls her name. She turns around, and Annie walks out of the house towards her. 

"Um…the hospital called. They said that your test results are in. You can go and pick them up this morning. Don't worry though, anything that happens we'll see you through it. We'll be here every step of the way for you. Whatever happens you'll be just fine."

Mary nods and gets up from the picnic table. She runs into the house and picks up the cordless phone. She goes into the living room where she can be alone, and calls Wilson.

"Hello?"

"Wilson. Its Mary." she says, sobbing. He can barely understand her.

"Mary? What's wrong?"

"Nothing, something, well maybe nothing. Can you just pick me up in like 10 minutes and go somewhere with me? I'll tell you where when you get here. It won't take that long."

"Um… OK. I'll leave right now. Are you OK?"

"No, not really."

"OK. Hang in there. I'll be there in 5 minutes."

Wilson hangs up the phone, bemused. _I wonder what's wrong with her. I hope she's ok. _He gets into the car and drives over to the Camden house. He rings the doorbell, and Mary opens the door and runs out past Wilson, straight into the passenger side of his car, without saying a word to him. Wilson makes a face, gets back into the car, and turns to Mary. He can see that she is crying, and chooses his words carefully. 

"So…where are we going?"

"To the hospital. My test results are back."

"Oh. I thought that might be it. Don't worry; you'll be all right. I'm here for you."

"I know. That's why I wanted to go with you. My mom's probably going to be mad at me for not wanting to go with her but I don't care. I just couldn't. I'm too scared and she'd try to comfort me. But the thing is, what if I'm not really OK?"

"Well, how have you been feeling? You don't feel sick, do you?"

"No." She sniffles, beginning to calm down.

"That's a good sign. Now don't worry. Worrying isn't going to change anything. Calm down."

The rest of the ride is silent, except for the sound of Mary trying to stop crying. They pull into the hospital parking lot and get out of the car. Wilson takes Mary's hand, and can see how scared she is. He hugs her and he starts to cry again. "If I knew you were going to do that I wouldn't have hugged you." Wilson says, tying to break the obvious tension. Mary pulls herself together and they walk into the building. Once inside, Mary goes back to the same desk she went to just the other night, and gives the nurse her name. The nurse hands her an envelope, and Mary and Wilson walk out of the hospital and back into the car. They pull out of the parking lot and head back to Mary's house.

"I don't want to open it. Maybe if I never open it, it will all go away, like none of this ever happened."

"You have to open it. If, God forbid, you are sick, you have to know so that you can get better."

"I can't open it, though."

"Yes you can. C'mon Mary, open it. You don't even have to tell anyone what it says, not even me. You can keep it to yourself. You have to open it though."

"No. I can't do it; you don't understand. Why don't you open it?"

"Ok, if that's what you want. As soon as we pull into your driveway I will."

They get to the house and park the car. Mary hands Wilson the envelope with a shaky hand, and he takes it from her. He slowly lifts the tan colored flap and pulls out three sheets of paper. He reads all of them over, very carefully, and tries not to show any expression on his face. Mary starts to get impatient though, and assumes that something is really wrong with her.

"So? Am I dying?" she asks him in her most serious tone of voice.

"Well…" 

            "Well, um, you're…you're…"

"I'm what?" she says, voice turning from nervous to concerned. "Tell me Wilson." 

"You're p-pregnant."

He hugs her and waits to hear the sound of her tears. Surprisingly though, he hears nothing. He breaks the hug and looks at her. She is in a complete state of shock.

"I-I'm pregnant. I'm going to have a child."

"Are you OK? Want me to do something for you?"

"Nope. You've done enough. Thanks for driving me and opening the results for me. I'm going to go upstairs and cry now. Talk to you later."

Mary gets out of the car and runs inside her house. She slams the door behind her. Wilson gets out of the car and rings the bell. Simon answers the door.

"What was that all about?" he says, pointing at the empty staircase to his left.

"Are you're parents home?"

"My mom's in the kitchen."

"Thanks." Wilson walks into the kitchen and towards Annie.

"Hi Wilson."

"Hello Mrs. Camden. Um…here are Mary's test results. Can I have permission to go upstairs and talk to her? She kind of stormed off."

"Well, why don't I just bring her down here for you."

"I really don't think she's going to come down stairs."

"Uh…ok then. I guess you can go upstairs if you want to. She's in the attic. It's the door to the right of my bedroom."

"Thanks."

Wilson runs up the stairs and into Mary's room. He is startled to only find Lucy sitting there.

"Did Mary come up here?"

"Yeah. She's in the bathroom crying."  
            Wilson walks out of the bedroom and to the bathroom two feet from the doorway. He can hear Mary's sobs coming through the white door. 

"Mary, come out here please. I want to talk to you."

She unlocks the door and pushes it open. She's sitting in the bathtub with her pillow and a box of tissues, crying. 

"You know how sometimes you just want to be alone, but everyone keeps bugging you?"

"Yeah."

"That's the way I feel right now. I don't want to be rude, but will you please leave?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks for before. I'll call you later, I promise."

Wilson walks out of the bathroom and closes the door behind him. But before he can get down the stairs, Lucy calls him.

"Wilson, what's wrong with Mary? I heard her tell you to leave. Something really must be wrong if she doesn't even want to talk to you."

"Well…uh…she got her test results back."

"Is she OK?"

"Physically, yes. Emotionally, not really."

"What do you mean?"

"She's pregnant."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Look, I'm going to go before she comes out of there and gets mad at me. When she does finally surface, can you tell her that I still want to talk with her?"

"Sure."

Wilson turns and walks down the stairs.

"Wait! " Lucy calls after him. "Should I even attempt to go in there?"

"Its worth a try. Bye"

Wilson finally makes it down the stairs and into the hallway. Annie rushes past him, and he shakes his head. _She should have let me stay. But she's going to have to talk with them eventually; now's a good a time as any._

"MARY! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!"

"Why? I'm planning on stay in the tub for 9 months and giving birth here."

"This is no time to get smart with me. Open the door. I just want to talk."

"Well I don't. That's why I locked myself in here."

"Did Wilson leave?" Annie asks, turning to Lucy who is sitting on her bed. She nods, and Mrs. Camden shakes her head.

"Yes Wilson left." Mary answers her mother question, annoyed. "I told him I wanted him to leave and I want you to leave, too."

"I'll go, but I don't understand why you are so angry at everyone."

"I'm angry because I want to be alone, and everyone keeps bugging me. I don't want to talk with anyone before I collect my thoughts on all of this. You guys didn't give me a chance to do that when I was raped, and you're not letting me do it now. That's why I was forced to lock myself in the bathroom. Now will you please leave? All I want is to be alone right now, and you banging on the door isn't helping. Can't you just give me an hour?"

"60 minutes and I'll be back up here. You sure you don't want to talk to anyone though?"

"I'm sure."

"Mary, Wilson said that he still wants to talk to you when you're ready." Lucy yells out to her sister. Mary does not respond. As Lucy sits and thinks about her sister's situation, she comes upon a realization. _After all she has done to try to change her life, she's right back to where she started, maybe even less than that, and this time it wasn't even her fault. I hope everything works out OK for her_. She hears Mary sobbing in the bathroom, and decides to try and talk with her. She walks over to the bathroom and gently knocks on the door.

"Mary? Can I come in?"

"As long as you don't bring Mom in here with you. I'm too upset to apologize right now."

Mary unlocks the door and Lucy walks in. She sits down on the closed toilet seat and tries to console her. 

"Are you OK? Want to talk?"

"Sure. What's on your mind?"

Not seeing her sister humor, she answers, "You. What's on your mind?"

"Being so mean to Wilson. He stopped what he was doing and drove me there, and I just told him to leave. I feel really bad. Maybe I'll call him. I'm kind of afraid to talk to him though. He's been through it all and he's going to tell me exactly how bad everything is going to be."

"It won't be that bad."

"Yes it will. I'm only 17 and now I'm going to have a child, which I didn't ask for. I mean, its not like I got wild and threw myself at Robbie. Then I wouldn't feel so bad for myself."

"I know. But everything's going to be OK."

"No its not. I'm going to call Wilson. Or better yet, I'll go over there and see him, if I can sneak out of the house without a "we all love you, you're fine" lecture from Mom and Dad."

"Oh, ok." Lucy begins to walk out, hurt that her sister shrugs her off so quickly.

"Luce, wait. Come here." Mary says, pulling her in for a hug. "Thanks for talking with me. I probably would have been in this bathtub for another 2 hours if you didn't."

Mary gets up and tries to make a run for it to the car. She is successful, and drives to the other end of town to Wilson's house. She pulls into the driveway and gets out of the car. She rings the bell, and Wilson's mother answers it. 

"Hi. Is Wilson home?"

"Yes he is. Come in, I'll get him. You're Mary, right?"

"Yeah I am."

"Wilson told me what happened to you. He said not to bring it up if I ever saw you but I just can't help it. You must feel terrible. Any time you need Wilson you just call him and he'll be right over. I'll watch Billy for him, no matter what."

"Oh, well thanks, and thank you for your sympathy."

Wilson walks into the foyer, and is shocked to see Mary standing there.

"I'll gladly watch Billy if you two want to go somewhere and talk." Mrs. West says.

"Hope 'bout we go get some ice cream and talk everything over, my treat." Wilson asks Mary. She nods and they both walk out to her car.

"Wilson, about before…"

"Its OK. I should have just left you alone and not bothered you. Its my fault."

"No, you were only trying to help."

"True." he says, and Mary laughs. Wilson smiles, realizing that is the first time he has seen her happy in three days.

They pull into the parking lot of the Dairy Shack, and get out of the car. They get their ice cream and sit down in a booth together. Mary inhales it, and Wilson looks at her, shocked.

"You act like you haven't eaten in days."

"I haven't. I haven't eaten anything since dinner on Friday night."

"That's not good. You have to eat, especially now that you're eating for two."

"I know. It's just that eating has been the least of my worries, and I haven't had much of an appetite."

"Promise me you'll go home and eat lunch, and a big dinner tonight."

"Sure."

"So, um, I know you didn't come to see me to get lectured. Where do you want me to start?"

"I don't know. I came to you because I figured you would be the only one who would tell me truly how hard all of this is really going to be. I know my family's just going to tell me it's all going to be easy with their help, but I know it isn't."

"Well, you're right. It isn't going to be easy, but you'll get through it. Um…what I wanted to know is if you're going to keep the baby. I don't mean abortion, but…"

"It never really crossed my mind not to keep the baby. I know that adoption is always there, but I wouldn't want to do that. I was worried about the baby not growing up with a father. How could I take it away from it's mother, too?"

"Your right. I just wanted to make sure that you know that you do have some options, if you really think that you can't do this."

"What? Do you think I can't do this?"

"No, not at all. I kind of feel that this will be good for you. It will get you back closer with you're family and help you keep your mid off the rape."

"Yeah, you're right. But what's my future going to look like now? I'm a 17-year-old mom with a criminal record. How am I going to get a job with that kind of background? What am I going to do about school? I can't go back to school on Monday after all of this happened. I mean, my grades lately have been bad enough, now this?"

"Well, let's think about this. You're life is no one's business but your own. You don't have to tell anybody anything. And, what is it now, the middle of February? You won't start really showing until you're 3, 3 and a half months. You might be able to finish school without anybody being able to tell you're pregnant by looking at you; wear some loose fitting shirts and stuff and no one will no."

"Yeah, but I'll no. And you think I'll be able to keep all of this a secret? No way. My dad's the minister for the biggest church in town. And all everybody does at school is gossip. One person will find out and that'll be the end of it."

"Hopefully by the time they find out school will be almost over. Then it won't matter anymore. But what you need is an ally, someone who can be with you at school, and help you through all of this. Do you have a really close friend you trust to tell?"

"New plan, I don't want to willingly tell anyone."

Wilson thinks for a second. "Maybe you don't have to, you have Lucy. She's at school with you."

"Yeah, that'll work."

They talk for about another hour, and then get back into Mary's parents' car. Mary drops Wilson back off at his house.

"Thanks for talking with me. You really helped."

"It was no problem. Oh, I was meaning to ask you, are you going to school tomorrow?"

"I don't know, I don't think so, not if I have any say in it. Maybe I'll cry tonight so I don't have to go."

"OK. I'll call you later, or tomorrow, but you'll probably end up calling me first."

"Hey, no reason to get rude!" Mary says, and laughs. Wilson smiles, and gets out of the car.

"I hope everything goes alright with your parents."

Mary makes a face, and pulls out of the driveway. Five minutes later, she pulls back into her driveway. She opens the front door, and is greeted by her mother. 

"Hi Mom. About before…"

"Don't 'hi mom' me. Where have you been? You know you're supposed to tell someone before you leave."

"I did. I told Lucy. I only went over to see Wilson. He took me out for some ice cream and we talked a little."

"Of course, Wilson. Why didn't I know?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You won't talk to me, but you'll run over to Wilson. Since when did you need Wilson for everything and me for nothing?"  
"Since now!" 

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Do you want to know why I went to go se Wilson? Because I knew you were going to be nice to me and tell me that everything that everything is fine when it isn't. I knew he'd tell me how hard it all would be, and he did. I guess you weren't going to be as nice to me as I thought you were going to be!"  

Mary runs up stairs to her room and slams the door. She sits down on her bed with her head in her hands and starts to cry. Lucy looks at her sister, and starts to cry herself. 

"I should have told mom you left. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. If she wanted to know where I was she should have asked- asked you. It doesn't matter anyways. She's just being unreasonable. I left for an hour and went out for ice cream with Wilson. Big deal."

"To her it is."

"I can't take this anymore. I have it bad enough without her yelling at me, too. Is Dad home?"

"No, he left 20 minutes ago- church emergency."

"Oh. What am I going to do? I don't want us to fight, but I don't want to talk to her."

"Um…I know, call Matt."

"He won't come down here just because we're fighting."

"Tell him you're pregnant. He'll be here in 3 minutes."

Mary lifts her head and looks at Lucy. 

"What can I say? You're rubbing off on me. Besides, why not use this to your advantage?"

Mary picks up the phone, and calls Matt's apartment. 

"Hello?"

"Matt?"

"Mary? What's wrong?"

"Uh…can you come over here?"

"I'm a little busy. I have a big test in two days."

"Well, could you take a break?"

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"Sort of."

"I don't like the way this conversation is going. What aren't you telling me?"

"OK. Are you sitting down?"

"Now I am. Why?"   
"I'm pregnant?"

Silence.

"Matt? Hello? You there?"

"Nope, I'm half out the door. I'll be there in a couple of minutes."


	5. Chapter 5

Matt enters the bedroom, and looks at his sister. _I can't believe how much everything has changed. I should have moved back before, when Mary first got into trouble. Now she's having a baby. _He walks over to Mary, and hugs her. 

"Are you feeling any better today?"

"Yeah."

"That's good. Are you OK with al of this?"

"Sort of. I'm scared, but I guess everything will be fine if I get help." Mary starts to cry, and Matt pulls her closer.

"Matt, will you help me?"

"Sure. I'll be here for you, all nine months, plus."

"No, I mean now. Mom's really mad at me."

"Why?"

"I had Wilson take me to go pick up the results. Then when I came home I locked myself in the bathroom. She came upstairs to talk to me, and before I knew it we were yelling at each other. When I came out of the bathroom, I went to Wilson's house. We went out for ice cream and we talked about all of this. Then when I got home, I was going to apologize to mom for being so rude to her before, but before I could get out one sentence she started screaming at me. Will you talk to her, please? I don't want to fight with her. I'd talk to her myself, but I don't want to get screamed at again."

"Ok, I'll do something. Don't worry, its ok. Stop crying."

Matt gets up and Lucy sits down on the bed next to Mary. She puts her arm around her.

"It'll be OK, really, it will."

"I'm not upset over that. I'm upset over Mom. She mad at me because of Wilson, again. I don't get it."

"I do. I like Wilson, you know I do, and I have no problem with him, but I know how Mom's feeling. She feels left out, just like I did. You didn't even talk to me, for like, a day. I figured you just needed time though, and you did. Mom just wants to help you. You're her daughter, and she wants to be the one you go to when something's wrong. Think about it, you've seen Wilson five times in less than 48 hours. That's a lot. Even if Wilson wasn't a guy, it still isn't good. I know he's Wilson and everything, believe me I get it, but because he's Wilson there's no guarantee he'll be here forever. Or maybe that means he will be, I don't know. But you're family is definitely going to be in it for the long run. She's trying to help you see that, but it's hard for her. She's hurt. I know you didn't mean to, but you hurt her."

"When did you get to be so smart Luce?" Mary asks, with tears running down her face.

"I don't know. Maybe you missed it when you were with Wilson." Mary gives her a look, and Lucy retracts her statement. "Kidding, I'm just kidding."

They sit like that for about 5 minutes, and then Mary speaks.

"Luce, can I ask you a favor?"

"Sure. Anything. I'm here for you."

"When Wilson and I were talking, we, he, came up with a good plan. I know that you're here for me and all, but will you promise me that you'll be there for me at school? This is going to be really hard. I need your help."

"Sure. I completely forgot about school. What are you going to do?"

"Well, nothing, as far as I know. I'm not telling anyone, and neither are you. Wilson said that I won't start to show for about 3 or 3 and a half months. That'll be around June. So hopefully, if all goes well, no one will know or be able to tell."

"Oh, that's good it worked out like that. But don't you think…"

"Yeah, I know. Mom and Dad probably have other plans. Knowing them they're probably on the phone right now with the school or something." 

"They'll make sure everything's Ok. Don't worry."

"Too late."

Lucy smiles sympathetically. "I'll be here for you, home, school, whatever. I'm not going anywhere. Besides, I don't think mom and dad are going to let me date, or even leave the house, for a long time because of what happened to you. So whenever you need me, I'll definitely be here."

"Thanks. And I really am sorry for the way I've been acting the past couple of days."

"Its OK. You don't have to apologize; I understand. I love you."

"Love you, too."

They give each other a sisterly hug, and Annie walks through the door. Mary notices her mother, and pulls back.

"Mary, can I talk to you for a second?" Lucy gets up, and Annie takes her place.

"Mom, I'm really sorry. I hate us fighting. If you want me to talk to you, I'll talk to you. And if you want me to stop calling Wilson, I guess I could cut back on that, too."

"I would like it if you talked to me more, and if you spent a little less time with Wilson, but I'm not forcing you to do that. This is my fault. I expected you to come running to me crying every second, and you didn't do that. And even worse, you cried on someone else's shoulder, someone who wasn't in the family. I like Wilson, I really do, but I guess I was jealous of him. Can you forgive me?"

"Yes. And I am going to talk to you more. I just needed some time to myself. And the whole thing with talking to Wilson, I don't know. Everyone has questioned me about it and I don't have any answers, except he makes me happy." Mary smiles, and Annie looks concerned.

"Well, that's nice. But, your focus right now is not boys. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. And I don't want to see you get hurt if friendships turn into more, and then you loose that friendship, a friendship that you obviously need."

"I know Mom. We're just friends though, really. He already said that's what he wants. He's trying to respect me."

"Wilson's a nice guy. He's not what worries me, though, you do. One mention of him and you're smiling. That's not a good sign."

"I am?" Mary blushes, and wipes the smile off of her face.

"So are we OK now?"

"Yeah. I love you."

"I love you, too. And I'm going to be here for you, forever, longer than any boyfriend, so promise you won't forget about me?"

"I won't, don't worry." They hug each other, and tears fill up in both of their eyes.

"Mom? I have one question."

"Ask away."

"What am I going to do about school?"

"SCHOOL! I completely forgot about that! Well, we'll talk to you're principal and work everything out for you. Leave this up to your father and me."

"Do I have to go back tomorrow?"

"No, of course not. You go back when you're ready, but don't take too long."

"Ok, thanks."

"Now, if we're all done here, I have to go check on the twins."

"Can I help?"

Annie smiles, "Sure. But thank your brother first."

Twenty minutes later, Mary is downstairs, attempting to feed Sam, while her mother feeds David. Annie is avoiding from bringing up any emotional topics, and is making small talk with her daughter. All of a sudden, Mary breaks down into tears. 

"Are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just let me cry."

Mary has been realizing that, now, unlike before all of this happened, once she starts crying it's hard for her to stop. After 20 minutes of weeping, she starts to think of Wilson.

"Mom, would you be upset if I called Wilson?"

"No, go ahead. And, you know what? I was thinking, since you'll be the only one home tomorrow, maybe Wilson could spend the day here with you, if you'd want him to. I'm trying to see if I could get your father to spend some extra time home tomorrow. I think all four of us could use a talk. He could bring Billy, and they're more than welcome to stay for dinner, and we could chat about everything. Would you want that?" 

"Yeah. That'd be nice. You sure that's OK with you and Dad though?"

"Its fine with us. Here, go call Wilson." 

Annie hands Mary the kitchen phone. She watches Mary run upstairs to call Wilson. _How could all this be happening? She's still my little baby. I remember the day she took her first steps like it was yesterday. Now she's running away from me. At least I'll get here back if Wilson is here with us._ Annie gets teary eyed, and waits for Mary to come back downstairs. 20 minutes later, Mary comes back down the stairs glowing to report the good news: Wilson can come over tomorrow and spend the day.

"What about Billy?"

"Wilson's mom offered to watch him. I met her today. She told me that anytime I needed Wilson she'd gladly watch Billy for him. I guess she really meant it. Thanks for doing this Mom. It really means a lot to me."

"Well, I just thought that it would calm everyone's nerves if all four of us got together and talked. And I figured you would spend at least part of the day with him tomorrow anyways, so he might as well spend the day here with you."

She walks over to her mother, and gives her a hug and a peck on the cheek. "I love you Mom. But I'm really tired all of the sudden; I think I'm going to go upstairs and take a nap."

"Ok, hunny, get some rest. I love you too." 

Mary goes upstairs and is shocked to see that her room was empty. She tries to sleep, but makes herself wake up. _This is the first time I've been alone and not been in trouble. I should use this time to think…about Wilson? No, don't think about him. Think about, uh, Robbie? Yeah, that's good. _Mary gets up and walks over to her window. She stares out it, and watches the world pass her by. Lucy walks into the room, and questions Mary.

"Uh…what are you doing?"

"Just thinking."

"Oh. You ok?"

"No, but I don't think you could help."

"Really? Try me."

"I'd rather not, sorry. It has nothing to do with you."

"OK, that's fine. I'm not going to pry."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Well maybe what I meant was I'm not going to pry…now. I'll find out later. You know I'm here if you want to talk to me."

"I know, but I really don't want to talk about this. It's nothing."

"If you say so."

Lucy grabs her backpack and walks out of the room. Mary tries to get some sleep. But, like before, her thoughts keep her awake. _Maybe I should tell him about this. No, I couldn't. He already said, err wrote, no. I don't want to pressure him. I just have to convince myself that I need a friend more than a boyfriend…_

Mary drifts off into a deep sleep, and wakes again at 4:00 in the morning. She remembers she didn't have dinner, and hears her stomach growl with hunger. She quietly gets up, trying not to wake anyone, and goes downstairs to get some food.  Mary gets herself a sandwich and a glass of milk, and sits down at the table. She starts to cry, and she doesn't now why. Wilson's face flashes through her mind, and when it fades away, she feels the same hurt that has been mounting up inside of her for the past three days. _That's it. If the time is right tomorrow, I'll try to bring it up. I don't know why this is so hard for me. _She continues to cry, and eventually hears someone coming down the stairs. She tries her best to compose herself, but it doesn't work that well. Lucy walks down the stairs, and sits down next to Mary. She puts her arm around her, and starts to talk to her.

"I woke up and rolled over and you weren't there. I got scared so I came looking for you. What's wrong? Do you want to talk now?"

"I don't know if I should say anything."

"Why? Is it something bad?"

"Let me rephrase that. I don't know if I want to say anything. You wouldn't understand, no one would." 

"How do you know?"

"I just do. You haven't been through what I've been through. You wouldn't get it, trust me."

"Ok, fine. Are you going to come back upstairs?"

"Maybe in a little bit." Lucy gets up and gets the box of tissues. She sits them next to Mary, and pulls one out for her.

"Alright. I'll be upstairs if you change your mind. Don't stay down here too long, you looked exhausted."

Mary takes the tissue and dries her eyes. _OK, you're going to stop now. Don't get upset over this; it's the least of your worries. You still have school. You're going to be a mom in 9 months. You're going to have a baby that's your responsibility. Worry about that, not you and Wilson. If it's meant to be, then it'll work out. Calm down._ Mary finishes the last of her sandwich, and goes back upstairs. She falls back asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow.


	6. Chapter 6

"Why are you all dressed up? I thought you weren't going to school today." Lucy asks Mary.

"I'm not. Wilson's coming over today to spend the day with me."

"Does Mom know about this?"

"She suggested it."

"Wow. OK, have fun."

"Oh, and um, Luce, if anyone asks you, I'm sick and you don't know when I'll be back in school, okay?"

"Sure. When do you plan on going back, though?"

"I don't know, when I'm ready. And as far as I know, neither mom or dad has talked to the school yet about this, so I'd have to wait and see what they say anyways before I make a decision."

"When do you think you'll be ready? Next week?"

"My goal originally was Friday, but rethinking it now that seems way to soon."

Eric calls out Mary's name, and she sighs and walks downstairs.

"Look, I didn't talk to your school yet, but I was thinking maybe after I dropped off all the kids we could go in and talk with Ms. Russell."

"Uh…I don't know. Wouldn't it look weird if I just walked in like that? Someone might see me and find out what happened."

"I guess your right."

"I will come along for the ride; I'd kind of like to get out of the house. I'll sit in the back of the van so no one will see me."

"OK. I was still planning on going in and talking with Ms. Russell after I dropped all of them off though."

"Well, maybe you could talk to her by yourself or ask her to come out to the car and talk with me. It's too risky to go in there, walk into the principal's office with you, walk out, and go home."

"I know. But no matter what we'd like to believe, we both know that sooner or later everyone is going to find out."

"Yeah, but I don't want them talking about me when I'm not there to defend myself."

"Maybe you should just stay home and wait for Wilson then."

"Fine."

Mary sits down in a chair and watches the rest of the Camden clan file out and go to school. She waits with her mother for Wilson to arrive. When finally does show up, Mary grabs his hand a drags him up the stairs to her bedroom. She sits down on her twin-sized bed, and Wilson sits next to her.

"What's wrong? Why did you pull me up here?"

"Because I don't want to be downstairs anymore. Besides, I feel more relaxed when I know we're completely alone."

"OK. So, did you think about everything we talked about?"

"Yeah."

"And what do you think?"

"I think I can do this now, hopefully."

"Good. But you won't need hope; you'll need help. I'll be here to help you and so will your family."

"That's what everyone says. I don't believe them though, or you either. I believe that you'll be here for me while I'm pregnant, and maybe a little while afterwards, but not forever."

"Well, you're right. I'll be here for you whenever you need me, so I won't be here for you forever, because you're not going to need me forever."

"How do you know?"

"Because, you are strong enough to do it by yourself if you have to."

"But I don't want to do it by myself. I want to do it with someone else, have my baby grow up with two parents, not one, and share they joy of having a child with someone," she says, grabbing Wilson's hand, "even if it isn't their own."

"I know what you mean. I still want the same thing." 

He puts his arm around Mary, and starts to space out. Mary turns her head and looks at him.

"Are you ok?"

"What? Uh…yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't seem fine."

"Its nothing-bad memories-I'm ok."

"No you're not. Don't lie to me. Talk."

"I was just thinking about Billy's mother."

"Oh. Sorry, I'll stop."

"Its not your fault. So what did your parents decide about school?" He says, tying to change the subject.

"My dad asked me to go with him this morning to talk to my principal, but I would have to be seen and actually go into the school. I told him I was afraid of being seen, but actually it's the other way around. I'm afraid of seeing people. It's been nice being home, and choosing whom I talk to and when I do it. I really don't want to see anyone yet. I'm afraid that someone will say something, and for some reason I'll just start crying and I won't be able to stop. I did that the other day. It really scared me. And I know that when I eventually do venture out into the real world, no one's going to be stepping on eggshells anymore. I don't want anyone to hurt me again. Right now, I feel almost as if I'm in control. When I'm at school, I know I won't be. The thought of going back there today was too much.  And as far as I know, my dad isn't back yet from talking to her."

"Did you tell anyone this but me?"

"No, I couldn't. I didn't really have the chance to, either."

"See, that isn't good. You have to start talking more, opening up little by little. You can't keep everything bottled up, because one day it'll all erupt and it won't be pretty."

"I don't want to tell anyone anything. I don't trust anyone, except for you. I trusted Robbie and look where that got me." She smiles and her eyes get teary.

"Then if that's the way you truly feel, you have to start opening up to me more. I can tell that your holding a lot back from me. I'm not going to judge you or laugh at you, or anything like that. I care about you, and I want you to feel that everything's all right."

"I- I'll try. Actually, being completely open, there was something I wanted to talk to you about. But, I don't know if I should."

"Why, what's going to happen?"

"I- I just don't know." She says, starting to cry.

"You don't know what?"

"How you'll react. I'm scared."

He notices her tears, and pulls her close to him. 

_This isn't going right. But I don't want him to let go. What should I do?_

 "How I'll react to what?"

"You know, maybe now's not the best time."

"Uh…ok, if that's how you feel. You're confusing me, though. You sure you don't want to talk? You sound really upset."

"I'm not upset. I'm extremely confused. I don't know how to say this and I don't know if I want to."

Wilson realizes what she's trying to get at. "Well, if I'm thinking what you're thinking, I think you should talk about it now. I'm going to be here all day, and we could work anything out if we have to."

Mary leans closer into him, and tries to stop her tears. "I don't know how to start. Do you have anything you want to say?"

"I care about you a lot, and I don't want to see our friendship suffer. If we do get together, I think it would be too tough on both of us if we break up."

"I was thinking the same thing. But it keeps haunting me: What if we don't break up? If things stay the way they are right now, I don't see why we ever would break up."

"Things aren't going to stay the way they are right now, though. You're life is going to change so much in the next year."

"I know, but this is what I want. I just want you to hold me, to kiss me, to be here for me. You're a great friend, and I really appreciate you, but I want you as my boyfriend."

"Yeah, but-"

"Let me finish. But as much as I want that, I don't know how I feel about it. Sitting here with you like this feels so right. But then if I think about us actually together, it doesn't feel so right anymore. It doesn't feel wrong; it just feels like bad timing. That's why I'm confused. I think I know what I want, but the more I thought about it, the more I doubted it. Now that I'm actually here with you, with your arms around me, all my doubts are gone. I want to be with you. All of this just feels so strong so fast- too fast- but I can't help it."

"Mare, look at me." 

Wilson stares into Mary's eyes, and peers into her soul. He can see that her feelings are pure, and that she has completely fallen for him, but has really tried not to. He doesn't know what to say to her, and can see the hurt forming. She turns her head away from his, and scoots away from him.

"I'm so sorry. See, I knew this would happen. That's why I didn't want to say anything to you. I am so stupid"

Wilson takes Mary face in his hands and turns it towards his. He leans down to kiss her, and just as their lips are about to meet, Annie calls them downstairs. They quickly pull away, and turn from one another. They both smile slightly, and get up to walk downstairs. They get to the bottom of the stairs, and Mary speaks.

"Wilson, are we OK?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, good."

Wilson begins to walk down to the first floor, but Mary puts her hand on his chest to stop him.

"Wait. Not a word of any of this to either of them, or to anyone."

"Ok."

"And don't tell them anything I've said to you about anything that's happened to me. Everything I tell you I say in confidence."

"Fine, I won't bring any of it up. Don't worry."

"One more thing. We still have to talk later about all of this."

"I know. I was planning on it."

"Mary! Are you coming down?" Annie yells up.

They walk down the stairs, and into the kitchen to talk Mr. And Mrs. Camden.


	7. Chapter 7

All four of them sit at the table in the kitchen, Mary next to Wilson on one side and Annie next to Eric on the other. Mary has been staring down at the table for 5 minutes, but now glances up at Wilson. Their eyes meet, and he grabs her hand. He gives her a look that says, "Everything is going to be fine. Calm down". Mary blushes, and smiles at him. Her father speaks, and breaks her out of her reverie.

"Mary, I talked to your principal."

Her grip tightens on Wilson's hand, and he rubs her leg with his free one. She swallows, hard, and starts to talk.

"And…"

"And you have two options. It seems that there is a preresiquite to all this. If you officially report to the school that you were raped and are now pregnant, lots of things would happen."

"What kinds of things?" Annie asks.

"Well, she would have to go to counseling once a week with the guidance counselor. She'd get a permanent hall pass to the nurse's office, and get out of P.E. for the rest of the year. And, all of your teachers would have to be informed of what happened to you."

The look on Mary's face is of sheer disapproval. "What's the other option?"

"That you only confide this in Ms. Russell, not to the school. Then, she said she'd take care of you and make sure everything was OK. She would give you a permanent pass to her office, and that whenever something was wrong you could come to her and she'd try to help you, or call us, or call Lucy out of class, whatever you needed. And to get out of gym, all you would need would be a doctor's note."

"The second one sounds a lot better. Would that be Ok with you guys?"

"If that's what you want it would be fine. The other option does seem like it would be a bit extreme and traumatic for you to deal with. So all you would have to do is stop by her office whenever you go back to school. Do you have any idea when that is going to be?"

"Eric, don't rush her." Annie interjects. "You have all the time you need Mary."

"Well, I was kind of hoping to go back Friday or Monday. I don't want to miss too much stuff."

"Oh, that's great Mary. I knew you'd be OK."

"I'm far from OK Mom, but I have to slowly get back to my life."

"Oh, I see."

Wilson decides it's his time to step in. "I know I'm not a professional or anything, but she seems to be doing a lot better, or at least she's hiding it all well from me."

Eric smiles sympathetically at Wilson for his attempt at trying to be involved in the conversation. "That reminds me, Mary. Have you given any thought to counseling?"

"Yes I have, and I'd like to try not to have any. You all know that I wasn't very open about anything before, but now I have a good reason not to want to talk. I refuse to share my story with anyone else. It's too emotionally draining for me to deal with this all, and that would just add to my list. I was thinking Dad could have a couple of mini sessions with me. You know, start directing me on the right path to getting over this."

"I'd be happy to help you Mary, but I don't know if that's such a good idea. Wouldn't it be harder for you to talk to me?"

"Sort of, but you've all told me, repeatedly, that I have to talk to someone. Just because you're my father doesn't mean you can't help me."

"It kind of does- conflict of interest." Eric mumbles.

"I think you're father's right Mary. Maybe you should look for guidance outside of the family. Someone who could be more, I don't know, less of a father."

Mary looks over to Wilson.

"Um, Mary you know I'm always happy to help you, and I want to help you, but I have to agree with them."

"Well, fine then. It doesn't matter what any of you think, though, because you can't force me to go. It's my head, and my body. I'm the one who has to struggle to get over this, not any of you. It would be less of a struggle though, if you let me work this out for myself, and talk about things when I want to. I will talk to someone when something's bothering me. For example, for the past three days, I've told Wilson whenever something was bothering me."

"Really? Like what?" Her father asks her, trying to pry.

"Like stuff. Don't make me talk about it all now, like this."

"Why? What's the big deal, it's only your mother and me. Wilson already knows."

Annie puts her hand on her husbands arm, signaling for him to shut up.

"How about I ask you a question. Why do you think I told Wilson everything and you guys practically nothing?" Wilson taps her leg and she looks at him. He shakes his head, and Mary turns back to her parents.

"Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. But you guys are just so frustrating. You say you only want what's best for me, and that you want to help me, but you're not doing that. I already know what's best for me right now, and that's not going into counseling. I can do this by myself if I have to, and I would actually prefer it that way."

"How about we compromise. We wait three weeks and see how you're doing. Then we'll decide if we think you should go to counseling. It'll be up to us then, not you, and if we don't see a big improvement you're going." Eric argues.

"Fine."

"Mary, I was meaning to ask you," Annie starts, "do you want to use your Uncle Hank as your doctor?"

"Uh…" Mary thinks for a second. The idea kind of creeps her out.

"You should Mary, if you're comfortable with it. He's family; he won't let anything bad happen to you" Wilson says before she can answer. 

"OK." All three of them realize what must be going through his head. Annie looks at Eric, Eric looks at Mary, and Mary looks at Wilson. She tightens her grip on his hand, almost trying to comfort him.

Wilson senses what is going on. "I'm fine. It's just that childbirth is a scary thing, and if Mary is in the hands of family she will definitely be well taken care of."

"I agree." Annie answers.

There is a long awkward pause. Everyone can tell what the conversation is leading up to. Wilson can feel that Mary is becoming worried without even looking at her.

"Its nice that you two became friends." Eric finally says.

"Yes, it is." Annie adds.

"You are just friends, right?"

"Dad!" Mary says, giving him a nasty look. Annie thinks back to yesterday, "…he makes me happy."

"Eric." She says, sternly.

"Don't worry reverend Camden. I respect Mary, and I don't want to see her hurt, and I especially don't want to contribute to the hurt she has been having in any way." Wilson says, trying to reassure Eric.

"So, are you saying-"Eric tries to ask Wilson, but is glared at by both of the women sitting at the table.

"All right, all right, I'll stay out of it, but you know how I feel about all of this Wilson."

"I know, Sir, and I completely understand."

"So, I think we're finished here. Anything you'd like to add Eric?" Annie says, trying to rap up the conversation.

"Not that I can think of. But if something pops into my head I'm sure I'll let you know."

"Great." Mary says sarcastically.

"Anything you wanted to bring up Mary?"

"Nope."

"OK. I'll call later and make a doctor's appointment for you."

"Wonderful. Come on Wilson let's go." 

Mary gets up and walks back upstairs. Wilson smiles at Rev. and Mrs. Camden and follows her out of the kitchen. They go back to the way they were sitting before on Mary's bed.

"Do you want to finish talking now, or do you want to wait?"

"I don't know. I don't think I have anything left to say. Do you?"

"Yeah. Look, I have to be completely honest with you. Your not the only one whose been thinking about us."

"Yeah, me and my father."

"You know that's not what I meant. There was any urgency to those thought though, because I wasn't planning on acting on them, at least not yet, so I really hadn't come to a conclusion."

"What exactly were you thinking about when you say "us"?"

"Us now, us as friends, us as more than friends, all of that stuff."

"Does that mean you want us to be more than friends?"

"Maybe eventually. But right now, I'm not quite sure. I don't want you to get hurt, or to get hurt myself, or for your parents to hate me."

"They wouldn't hate you if I was happy, and this would make me very happy."

"I don't know."

Tears start to fill up in Mary's eyes and her tone of voice becomes serious. "Well if you don't know then why'd you try to kiss me?"

"Because I the time was right, and I thought that would help me figure everything out." He looks at Mary, and can see the pain growing inside of her, and how much this is tearing her apart. "See, now you're hurt. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid."  
"I know, and its not your fault, but I can't help it. You know, forget it. Its taking you long to answer me. Forget I ever said anything. Let's talk about something else."

"No. That's only going to make you feel worse. And, I want to talk about us, but I don't have an answer yet. It's OK, let's talk more."

"OK. The reason I want to get back together with you is because for three days, every time I looked at you all I could think about was doing this."

She leans in and kisses Wilson. The kiss is soft and sweet, almost like a first kiss. They slowly part, but Wilson pulls back Mary's face. They continue to kiss more passionately until they both run out of air. Once they regain their breath, Wilson starts to speak, but Mary doesn't let him. She leans back in and continues to kiss him until her desire has been fulfilled.

"Now what?" Wilson asks, almost out of breath.

"That just reconfirmed everything for me. Anything clearer for you?"

"Crystal. I want to go out with you again. I guess I didn't realize how much I really missed that. Are you really sure this is what you want? I don't want this to turn out badly."

"I know what I want. I want you."

"So, what was your next step in this plan of yours?"

"I didn't really expect this. Do you think we should keep this a secret?"

"No, because we have nothing to hide."

"Fine fine fine. Who and when?"

"One of your parents as soon as possible."

"Definitely my mom. She kind of figured out the way I felt about you before I did. She was asking me about you, and I said that you make me happy. She told me I was smiling, and when I wiped the smile away, she smiled too. And I just got this feeling fro her before when we were talking with them, like she understood me, and me and you. We could talk to her and have her talk to my dad."

"Yeah, I guess so. I don't think she would hurt me, either."

Mary smiles and so does Wilson. "So what are we going to say? We have to have a plan or she'll tear us apart."

"Wait. What if she forbids me to see you? That won't be good."

"Maybe we could tell her that we're still deciding what to do, and we sees how much we both want to be together, maybe she'll be more lenient." 

"If you say so. You absolutely sure we're doing the right thing?"

"I hope so. I-I" Mary starts to cry, and Wilson pulls her into him. "Maybe we could wait a little, think this over again."

"Ok." Wilson pulls his arms away from her. She grabs them, and pulls them back down.

"Hold me, please. I'm scared." 

He nods, and rubs her arms. He lets her cry for a little while, then talks. "Talk to me. What are you scared about? Us?"

"A little. Just everything- I really don't know how I'll be able to get through this. I need help."

"Do you want to go to counseling, eventually?" 

"No, definitely not. I need help, but not help like that. I want help from you. I know I have your help, but your not here with me all the time. You can't be, you have a job and a son and a life. But, I know that everyone is right. If we do get together and it doesn't last, I'll loose you, and I couldn't go on without you."

"Yeah I know. Maybe we should forget it. This is tearing you up too much inside. Is it really worth all of this?"

"I think it is. This- right now- I love this. This is all I've ever wanted, from anyone, but the only person I want it from is you."

"I know, I know." 

Mary sits up, and looks at Wilson. "OK. First reaction, no second thoughts, do you want to be with me?"

"Yes."

"Do you think we should be together?"

"No. I'm sorry… but you know I'm still here for you. Friends is nice, it's comforting."

"Its ok. I agree with you. My heart says yes, but my mind says no. For some reason, I'm going with my head."

"Ok. So we are not getting together?"

"Right."

"You ok with that?"

"I will be. Can we still hug?"

Wilson pulls her back down to him. She leans her head on his shoulder, and a tear silently escapes from her eye. She wonders if she did the right thing, as does Wilson.

"Mare, are you ok with this?"

"No."

"Neither am I. Look, how about we wait a couple of weeks. You'll go back to school, get back to your normal routine, then we'll talk again."

"Yeah, that sounds so much better.'

"Maybe I could get my parents to come around, too."


	8. Chapter 8

Wilson and Mary talk for the rest of the day. They are both careful not to bring up the topic of their relationship. Wilson is doing his best to keep Mary's mind off of everything that has happened to her lately. She only cried twice so far. Both of them are sitting on the couch, watching T.V., when everyone arrives home from school.  Simon walks straight to the kitchen, Lucy upstairs, and Ruthie walks into the living room.

"No fair! You got to stay home all day with Wilson and watch T.V. while I had to go to school!"

"Ruthie, it wasn't like that. Mom and dad made me have a talk with them."

"Oh."

"And I'm still not feeling OK."

"Are you sick?"

"No. I feel fine, but my heart hurts."

"Why? Did Wilson do this to you?"

"No, he didn't. Remember what we talked about before?"

"Yeah."

"That's why my heart hurts."

"Ok. Well, I hope you feel better."

"Thanks Ruthie."

Ruthie walks out of the room, but turns around and walks back in. "You're not going to have a heart attack like Dad did, are you?"

"No, it's not that kind of pain. It's the kind of pain you'd have if, let's say, someone said they didn't like you. Get it?"

"Yeah. OK Bye."

"Wait, are you going upstairs?"

"Yup."

"Do me a favor and ask Lucy to come down here please."

"Sure."

"Thanks."

Ruthie runs up the stairs. Five minutes later, Lucy comes downstairs and walks into the living room.

"Did anyone ask about me at school?"

"Yeah, some girls from the basketball team. Don't worry though, I told them you were sick and didn't know when you were coming back to school."

"OK, thanks"

Lucy walks back upstairs and leaves Mary and Wilson alone. They finish watching the last 20 minutes of the television program and the doorbell rings. No one runs down to get it, so Mary gets up to answer it. She opens the door and is shocked to see Corey and Maggie, from her basketball team, at her doorstep. 

"Mary, hi. We just came by to give you your homework and make sure you were OK. Lucy said you were sick and she didn't know when you were coming back to school."

Mary is in complete shock, but manages to squeeze out, "I-I'll be right back," and closes the door in their faces. She runs into the living room, and grabs Wilson's arm, pulling him to his feet.

"Who was at the door?"

"Two-two of my friends from school. What do I do? I can't tell them what happened; it will be all over school by first period tomorrow. Answer the door for me Wilson."

"OK."

Wilson walks to the front door and answers it. "Hi, I'm Mary's boyfriend, Wilson. Mary had to go upstairs because she started to feel sick again."

"I thought Mary was seeing that Robbie guy she met at community service. She hasn't talked about you in a while."

"Well, that's probably because we've been secretly seeing each other for about a month now."

"Oh, ok. Now how sick did you say Mary was, because she looked fine to me."

"Well, she wasn't. She saw the doctor today and he said that she probably has mono."

"Then why aren't you sick?"

"Because I had it already. I was really sick on Saturday."

"Oh. Um, here's Mary's homework. Could you give it to her for us?"

"Sure. Thanks for stopping by." 

Wilson closes the door before they could say another word, and goes to find Mary. He checks the living room, but he is not there. He can hear her crying, and he looks around. He finally spots her, sitting at the top of the stairs. Her face is in her hands, and she is curled up like a ball. He walks up there and sits down next to her. He rubs her back, trying to comfort her. She looks up, at him, waiting for him to say something.

"Well, ah, did you like my story?"

She nods. "I would have laughed if I wasn't so upset."

"I know."

"What am I going to do now?"  
"Nothing, wait. It's ok though. Even if they do know something's up, they don't know what, and I don't know how their going to find out."

"Believe me they'll find out."

"Can I say something without you getting mad?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"Your right to think that people will talk, because they will. But you're just going to have to lighten up and get used to it. There's nothing you can do to change any of this. You can't go back and time and fix it; you're just going to have to live with it."

"I know that. But I don't want them talking about me, especially when I'm not even at school to defend myself."

"Lucy's there."

"Yeah. But what I'm really afraid of, is that this will get all around school by the time I get back, and people will look at me differently, like they'll stare through me, instead of at me. Lucy did that to me after I first told her. It made me feel so powerless and ashamed."

"Well, people should look at you differently, because you are different. You've changed so much in the past 3 days. You've gotten tougher, and more self-reliant. You've learned so much, and you've grown a lot as a person. Everything will work out fine in the end. Everything happens for a reason."

"Oh yeah? So why did I get raped?"

"Uh…for a reason."

Mary looks up at him and rolls her eyes. He smiles at her, and she smiles back. Annie comes up the stairs, and stops when he sees Mary and Wilson. Mary doesn't see her, but Wilson does. Annie mouths "Is she OK?" to Wilson. He nods. 

"Ahem. Mary, I made an appointment for you. Its for Wednesday at 3 o' clock, ok?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Dinner will be in about an hour."

"OK, thanks Mrs. Camden." Wilson answers.

The smells of dinner fill the air. Everyone goes downstairs to eat. They sit around the table and talk about their day.

"I got an A on my history test." Simon tells his family. 

"Good job. I knew the extra studying would help." His father congratulates him.

"Oh yeah? Well I get A's on all my tests." Ruthie says.

"Ok, that's enough." Annie cuts in, trying to avoid a sibling quarrel.

"How was your day Lucy?" Mrs. Camden asks.

"Oh, same ol' same ol'." 

"Do you have a lot of homework tonight?"

"Kind of. I did some of it already, though."

"Oh, ok."

"So Mary, what did you and Wilson do all day?" Simon asks, curios about what he missed while he was at school.

"Um…we talked and watched T.V., no big deal."

"Yeah sure it wasn't." Simon makes a kissing face at Mary, and she turns towards Wilson. She smiles, and he smiles back.

"That's enough, Simon." Eric says.

Everyone finishes their dinner, and scurries off to their own corners of the house. Mary and Wilson go up to her room, and don't pay any mind to the fact that Lucy is there.

"Today was fun Wilson."

"Yeah, it was. I forgot how much I like spending time with you."  
            "So, um, we're OK? Everything's fine?"

"Everything's alright with me."

"OK, me too."

"Are you OK? You don't seem right."

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about going to the doctor, err Hank. It's kind of creeping me out."

"Its ok, he's a professional."

"I know, but I still don't want to go. I don't have a good feeling about it. Not about him, but about going in general."

"I'm sure you're just nervous. It's going to be fine. Don't worry about it so much."

"Ok, I'll try."

"So, if everything's OK, I have to go."

"No, stay, please."

"I can't I have to go home to Billy."

"Ok."

Wilson gets up, and walks over to Mary. He kisses the top of her head, and grabs  
her hand. 

"Calm down. Stop worrying about everything. It'll all work out in the end."

Mary nods. 

"Bye. Get some sleep tonight. I'll call you tomorrow after I get home from work, ok?"

"Yeah. I'll walk you out."

"No, that's ok. I think I know the way." 

He lets go of her hand and walks out the door. Mary gets up and lies down on her bed. Se smiles and tries to think happy thoughts, but is interrupted by Lucy. 

"What was that all about?"

"What?"

"The look on your faces. What exactly did you guys do today?"

"I told everybody already. We talked and watched T.V."

"Talked about what?"

"Stuff. Its none of your business."

"OK, sorry. So what was that about Uncle Hank?"

"Oh, he's going to be my doctor."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, except that it's freaky. Wilson said that I should use him, though, because he'll take care of me. I don't really want to, but Mom already made an appointment for Wednesday."

"Oh, well good luck."

"Thanks. I'm really scared, Luce. Something doesn't feel right."

"What do you mean? Do you feel sick?"

"No, not like that, like I have a bad feeling about going. I don't think it has anything to do with Hank, though. I just, I don't know I can't really explain it."

"It's probably nothing. You'll be fine."

"I hope so."


	9. Chapter 9

No one bothers Mary until dinnertime. Mrs. Camden forces her to come downstairs and eat; telling her it will make her feel better. She sits there, silently, as everyone stares at her. They talk about things like the weather and test grades; avoiding the subject they really want to discuss. Mary finishes eating, then gets up and goes into the kitchen to clear her plate. They hear her finish, and then walk up the stairs.

"Now that she's gone, family pow wow." Annie says to the rest of the family. "Your sister is going through a very tough time right now. We are all going to try our best to give her her space, and not to bother her. Do not mention anything about babies our pregnancy or anything like that. We are going to be very kind to her, and give her time until she is ready to talk. You got it?" "Yes" all three of them answer in unison.

Mary is upstairs trying to think when she hears the phone ring. Any other day, and she would run to answer it. Today, she didn't care at all.

"Hello?"

"Reverend Camden? It's Wilson."

"Hi Wilson."

"How's Mary doing today?"

"Not so great."

"Oh, that's too bad. Can I talk to her?"

"Here's the thing Wilson. She's not talking to anyone at all. Maybe she'll want to talk to you, though. I'll ask her, hold on."

"Hello?"

"Hi Mary. Your dad said your not doing so well today. What's wrong?"

"You couldn't even imagine."

"Why aren't you talking to anyone?"

"Because I don't feel like talking about it."

"Ok…Look, I was thinking maybe I could stop by. Would that be ok?"

"Yeah, if you want to."

"I do. So I'll be there in 20 minutes, alright?"

"Ok."

"Bye."

Mary rolls over and tries to think how she's going to deal with Wilson trying to talk to her. _I want him here, but I don't want him comforting me. Maybe- I don't know- maybe he'll offer me piece of mind._ She stays there until she hears the doorbell ring, but even ten she doesn't bother to move. _I hope they don't tell him before I get a chance to- not that I'm looking forward to it._ Three minutes later, Wilson walks into the bedroom.

"Are you sleeping?"

She sits up. "No."

"Ok, good. How are you feeling today? Do you still feel sick?"

"It hurts really, really bad. I really just think its all the stress, though."

"You sure?"

"No. Hank said-"

"I completely forgot! How did your appointment go?"

Mary lies back down and rolls over so that Wilson cannot see her face.

"Mare? Something happened, didn't it?"

She nods.

He puts his hand on her back. "What's wrong?"

Mary sits up and looks him square in the eyes. "I-I…just hold me, please."

Wilson does as he is told. Mary cries for the first time all day. He tries to comfort her so that he can find out what happened. After she lets go of most of her grief, she dries her eyes.

"Wilson, I lost the baby."

"You what? Oh, Mare…"

He gets teary eyed as Mary continues to sob. They sit like that for a while, until Mary finally stops.

"I'm sorry. You didn't come here to watch me cry."

"Yes I did. If that's what you want to do then go ahead. "

"No, I have to stop now or else I'll cry forever."

"Ok. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. You're great and everything, and I've shared so much with you, but this just seems too personal. And besides, I feel like you know everything I'm feeling without saying anything."

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to. I feel so bad for you. Is there anything I can do for you?" 

"Not unless you can turn back time."

His heart goes out to Mary as he pulls her closer. 

"Why were you in such a rush to come over?"

"I wanted to see you. I-I couldn't stop thinking about you all day."

"I was thinking about you, too, until…you know, I was really starting to get excited. I mean, from the beginning I was never upset that I was pregnant. I was upset that I was a single mom. Guess I don't have to worry about that anymore now do I?"

"Shh, you'll be OK. You'll get through this, I'll help you."

"Thanks. You know, I was thinking, maybe we could push up the date on thinking about us?"

"We'll see."

"Wilson, I'm not Billy. I know that's not an acceptable answer."

"You know that I care about you, but because I care about you, I don't want to rush anything."

"I know, I know, but just, you sitting here holding me, made me think about it. Today has been so hard, I need you."

"I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere. I'll hold you whenever you want."

"I know; that's what I like about you. But, that kiss-"

"I liked it to."

"It kind of turned my whole world upside down."

"OK, I have an idea. Your birthday is in less than two weeks. We'll talk about it then."

Mary starts to laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"I was just thinking about you showing up with a bow on your head."

"Maybe I will."

Her smile fades from her face as she leans her head on his shoulder. He wraps his hand around her waist. Suddenly, Mary puts her hand on her lower stomach and leans forward. She takes a deep breath, and Wilson puts his hand on her back.

"Are you ok?"

"I don't know."

"What's wrong?"

"Really, really bad cramps. It's been like this for three days now." She winces again as tears stream down her face.

"Do you want me to do something? Get your parents?"

She nods and rolls over onto her side. She brings her knees to her chest, continuing to grab her stomach. Wilson runs out of the room and finds Mrs. Camden. He brings her upstairs into Mary room, telling her something's wrong with her.

"Mary? What's wrong?"

"Call Hank."

Eric, Annie, and Wilson are all at the hospital. Mary is being examined by Hank. All three of them look nervous. A nurse comes out to the waiting room and over to them.

"Are one of you Wilson?"

"That would be me."

"Usually we don't allow this, but Mary wants to see you. She said she wouldn't calm down until you come in, and she's pretty upset."

He looks over at Eric and Annie. "It's fine, go." Eric tells him.

Wilson gets up and follows the nurse to Mary. He sees her and walks over to her side. He can tell that she is scared and in a lot of pain.

"Hey, are you OK?"

"Better now that you're here."

"What's wrong with her?" he asks Hank.

"Well, it isn't anything life threatening, but its not great. There's what I think is a blood clot that seems to be stuck on something. That's what's causing her all the pain. Mary, I think we're going to do a CAT scan to see if I could cut this for you. Once you get rid of this you should feel a whole lot better. I'll go see if we can get you in there. Wilson, can you stay with her until I get back?"

"Sure."

Hank walks out the door and Wilson pulls up a chair next to Mary. He kisses her lightly on the forehead and she grabs his hand.

"Wilson, this hurts so bad."

"You'll be ok."

"No, I wont. That's part of my baby!" 

She starts to cry and he brings her closer. She buries her head in his chest as he rubs her back. _Please let her be OK._

"Shh…Shh…Its alright. You'll get through this." 

Hank comes back into the room, and tells them that Mary can go get the CAT scan done now. Wilson gets up to leave, and whispers some encouraging words to her.

"Can't he stay?"

"I'm afraid he can't, sorry."

"I'll tell them your OK." He wipes away her tears with his hand, "Stop crying, for me?"

She sniffles, "OK."

Wilson walks into the waiting room, and back to Mary's parents.

"How is she?"

"Well, she isn't any worse, but she isn't any better. Hank said that there's a blood clot, but instead of just coming out like it should do, it's stuck on something. They're doing a CAT scan right now to see if they can cut it off, so that the pain will go away."

"Is that normal?"

"I don't know, I don't think so."

"How's she holding up?"

"Um…she'll be OK."

"We wanted to ask you, before we came, did she talk to you?"

"Yeah, she did. She cried a little but she wouldn't really tell me much, sorry. She said it was too personal."

"Wilson, will you watch her for us?" Annie asks, her eyes pleading. "She's just so distant. I don't know what's going on in that head of hers anymore, I can't even imagine."

Much later that night, Mary is at home trying to sleep, and talking with Lucy.

"Well, They…uh, removed the blood clot that was hurting me, and the rest of the baby, and now everything should be fine."

"Do you feel any better?"

"No. I feel empty."

"I can't believe it, still. These are like the worst things that could ever happen to anyone, all at one time. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Well, actually, there is. I know that you're just trying to help me, and I appreciate that, but stop talking to me about it. I really don't want to bring it up. Maybe one day I will- I doubt it- but if I do you'll be the first person I come to."

"Even before Wilson?"

"Yes, even before Wilson."

"I'll stop bringing it up. I really am just trying to help."

"I know, but there is nothing you can do or say to make me feel any better. I just have to get through this on my own. We can talk about other stuff, if you want, just not that."

"OK, like what?"

"Have you ever been in love, like really in love?"

"Um…no, I don't think so."

"Well, if you were in love, how do you think you'd be able to tell?"

Lucy smiles. "Yes, you're in love and yes, he loves you back. I'm not stupid you know."

"Thanks Lucy. Good night."

"You're going to sleep now? It was just getting good!"

"Sorry, I'm really tired. I don't think I could keep my eyes open for a second longer. Do me a favor, though? Don't tell anyone that I said anything about that."

"I won't, don't worry."

"Good night."

"Night."

Mary gets up the morning and goes through her normal routine: breakfast, shower, homework, sleep, lunch, nap, homework, dinner. All day, she feels out of it, like she is going through the motions of her life, but not actually doing them. After dinner Wilson calls, and Mary speaks to someone for the first time all day.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Better, but really out of it. I'm counting down the days until my birthday. 10 days after today. My parents are throwing some family party thing on Friday, to cheer me up. Personally, I don't know what there is to celebrate, but I've decided to humor them. I want you to come, you and Billy. Please say you'll come."

"We'll come, but are you sure its alright? You said it's a family party."

"You are practically family, you know that, and I don't think its really going to be that exclusive. Who did I scream for in the hospital last night? Not my mom or my dad, you."

"Why did you want me in there so bad?"

"I figured if I was dying I want you to be the last thing I see."

"You knew you weren't dying."

"I know. I was scared. I don't like showing my emotions to my family. I trust you, and I don't trust them, any of them. I don't like them to know too much about me, because I'm afraid that they'll use it against me and get mad at me, or something like that. I've been keeping a lot from them ever since I lost their trust. Everything I do isn't perfect, so I figure if they don't know about it they can't ground me for it, or hate me."

"They'll never hate you."

"My brothers and sisters, no, although Matt might. My parents, I mean I know they love me, but you didn't see them before. When I got into trouble, they- they've just been different ever since. Finally I got back enough of their trust to let me go out with Robbie, and then this happened. They never put the blame on anyone, so I know that they partially blame me. Now, I probably don't have any of their trust, no less than that, I have negative trust."

"I'm sure you're just over reacting. Besides, none of this was in any way your fault."

"Yes it was. I shouldn't have punched him, or gone out with him in the first place. God, I hate him."

"It wasn't like you knew this was going to happen. But it still wasn't your fault. If he was stupid enough to take advantage of a wonderful, gorgeous girl like you, than he really has problems."

"Thanks, but I'm not really that great."

"Yes you are. You know you'd have to be for me spend this much time with you."

Mary laughs, and so does Wilson. "I'm so lucky to have you. I always feel so much better when I talk to you."

"I'm glad, and I'm happy your feeling better."

"I'm not that much better, but better than I was an hour ago. I don't know what it is, you just give me a whole new outlook on life, like nothing can go wrong if I'm with you."

"Mare- 10 days OK? Slow down."

"Sorry, I can't help it."

"Don't be sorry, just take my advice. So, besides all that, how are you feeling about everything else? Do you want to talk yet?"

"Look, don't worry about me. I don't feel that bad. I have to admit, though, last night was traumatic. I got through it though, and I can get through the rest of this. I feel empty inside. Like this huge piece of me is missing and will never come back. I-I don't know. It's hard to separate my feelings about one specific thing, when I'm battling the feelings of everything, you know?"

"Yeah, I get it."

"But I'll be OK. And if I need your help, I know you're here. And you know I won't hesitate to ask for it."

"I know, but I'm worried about you. All of this stuff is just so awful. You're handling it all so well."

"No I'm not. I'm a wreck inside, believe me, I just don't feel like showing it. I don't think I have the energy to, either."

"Ok. You know I'm going to keep checking on you, though."

"I know. I like that though. It makes me feel like you care."

"I do care."

"Yeah, but it gives me a reminder."

"How are you holding up with your family?"

"Well, I'm not in need of rescue yet, but probably soon. It's really weird, though. They all kind of stopped talking to me. I don't know, maybe it'll get better."

"It will."

"It has to. It can't possibly get any worse."

"Are you going back to school tomorrow or Monday?"

"Hopefully tomorrow. You know, get to see some fresh faces, people who don't know everything that has happened to me in the past couple of days. And even if they do, I don't care anymore. 3 months, that's it. I can manage."

"That's the spirit. Keep it positive, everything will fall into place from there."

"I hope so, because I don't want to have to deal with it all."

"Then don't. Just let things be. And you know, it takes more energy to keep things bottled inside then to let them out. That wasn't an excuse to get you to talk to me, either. I just think that if you let everything out, you'd feel at least a little better. Not necessarily to me, but just in general."

"You might be right, but I don't want to. I'm not ready yet."

"I know, and I'm not rushing you. I'm just saying."

"OK."

"So what did you do today?"

"Nothing. Eat. Sleep. The usual. But tomorrow will be eventful, so…"

"Yeah."

"You know, I was thinking about not going and telling my principal what happened to me. I'm really not in the mood for a lecture, 'You're a wonderful girl. It's too bad. You have to take care of yourself…' ".

Wilson laughs. "You sound so fed up with everything, are you?"

"Yes. No. Its just the predictability of everyone, its annoying, yet comforting at the same time."

"Am I predictable?"

"Yup."

"Really? How?"

"Well, no matter what you're always going to be a nice guy, Mr. Responsible. That's a good thing, though. I like that you're such a great guy. That's the only word to describe you- great."

"Thank you. Well, let's see, if I had to describe you in one word, I'd use…hmm…goofleberg."

"What? What's a goofleberg?"

"It's a word I made up. There isn't a word to describe you; you're too unique. You're your own person, a free spirit."

Mary blushes, "Thanks."

"Your welcome."

"I got to go, Simon wants to call Deena. I'll call you tomorrow after school, if I go."

"Ok. Good luck. Remember, you don't need any of them; you at least have one person- Lucy. Three months, you'll live."

"I hope so. Bye."


	10. Chapter 10

I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I was king of busy. Please please please review! I haven't gotten any reviews in at least a week. Oh yeah, and I'm hoping to wrap up this story in 2 or 3 more chapters. I also have plans for a sequel. Enjoy!

Mary goes to school the next day, and notices people are looking at her differently. People she used to casually greet as she passed were now pointing at her and saying things behind her back. _Three months, I can do this. Don't cry. You're okay. Remember; never let them see you sweat. _Somehow, she talked herself through the day. And, with a little support from Lucy between classes, she got through it. Mary even started getting used to it all by the end of the day. 

When school ended, she got her things and went over to Lucy's locker. There were a couple of people loitering in the hall. When they saw Mary pass by, they started whispering behind her back. Mary took a deep breath, and continued to walk over to Lucy.

"Luce, you ready to go?"

"Yeah, one second."

The hallway was quite, except for the sounds of that group of kids. Mary couldn't make out what they were saying, but she managed to pick up a few key words: dirty, slut, pregnant, horrible. Her eyes started to fill with tears, but she quickly blinked them away.

"Uh, can you hurry up?"

"Ok, sorry." Lucy turns around to face her sister. "Are you ok?"

Mary buries her head in her hands and starts to cry. Lucy puts her arms around her and Mary leans against her, falling victim to the emotions within her. Lucy looks over Mary's shoulder at the group of people feeding off the new information to add to their story.

"Don't let them get to you. What do they know?"

Mary wipes her eyes, and stands upright. Lucy closes her locker and they walk down the hallway. As they pass that group of kids, they make faces showing disgust towards Mary. Having had enough, Mary stands up for herself.

"I hope all of you are happy. You have no right to judge me! You have no idea what I have been through in the past week. I just wish that when something awful happens to you, someone tries to make you feel as awful as you just made me feel."

The two of them walk out to the car, and get in. 

"I'm really proud of you."

"What? Why?"

"It took a lot of guts to stand up to those jerks. Even through everything you've been through, you're still yourself. I really admire you."

"Thanks Luce. That means a lot, really."

Sensing the tension, Lucy tries to turn the conversation to a lighter note. "So, how was the rest of your day? Was it all that eventful?"

"Well, it was pretty much like that, but without the screaming part."

"Did you talk to Ms. Russell?"

"No, I didn't want to. I didn't want to have to tell her about the baby."

"I understand."

"And I figured if I had to, I could always tell her on Monday."

"Yeah, I guess."

"So, do you have any plans for tonight?"

"Nope. Andrew Nayloss hasn't talked to me in days."

"Oh, sorry."

"Do you have any plans?"

"Well, I was hoping to see Wilson, but nothing's official."

"Ooh!"

"Luce, please. Oh my god, seven days!"

"Seven days until what?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Mary finishes picking everyone up and returns home. She avoids her parents' questions about her day and stays in her room. She tries to catch up on the work she has missed, but is distracted. All she can think about is Wilson. 

After an afternoon of daydreaming, dinner is finally ready. Everyone is anxious to know how Mary's day was at school. "It was fine, no big deal. Everything's going to be OK." Lucy kicks Mary's leg, but Mary just kicks her back. Finally, they finish eating and Mary goes back upstairs. She hears the phone ring, and quickly answers it.

"Hello?"

"Hey. How was school?"

"Not that great but I guess it could have been worse."

"That's good."

"I guess."

 "Look, um, if its OK with you, I was wondering if I could stop by tonight, just for a little bit."

"Sure, that'd be nice."

"Ok, so in about a half hour?"

"Fine. See you then."

"Bye."

            Mary changes her clothes and awaits Wilson's arrival. The doorbell rings and she bolts down the stairs.

"Hi"

"Hey."

"I…um, brought something for you." He says, lifting the small, rectangular package in his hand. "I know it's not your birthday yet-"

"Seven days"

He smiles, "but I figured you could use this now."

He hands the gift to her, and she unwraps it carefully. Inside, she finds a diary.

"I wrote something in there for you. And I put the letter you wrote to me inside. I figured you might want to look back at it and remember how you were feeling when this all first happened. You can use it when you don't feel like talking to anyone."

Mary puts her arms around Wilson. "Thank you, really, this means a lot to me."

They go into the living room and sit down on the couch.

"So, can I read what you wrote now?"

"I would prefer if you didn't."

"C'mon, don't make me wait that long."

"Fine, if it's really that important to you."

Mary opens the diary and reads what Wilson has written. Her eyes get teary, but she wipes them away.__

"That was really sweet. Thank you so much, I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I don't know how I could get through all of this without you."

"Thanks. It makes me feel better to know that I'm really helping you."

"You are."

"Good. So what happened at school?"

"Everyone was whispering behind my back all day. I tried to shrug it off, but when I went to get Lucy, this one group really got to me. I completely flipped out and started crying. Then I yelled at them and told them they have no right to judge me."

"You're right. They don't."

"I know."

"How's everything else going?"

"All right I guess. I'm just trying not to think of it. But there is one thing I can't get out of my head no matter how hard I try…"

"Which one?"

"I really don't want to talk about it."

"You sure? I know your already thinking about it."

"I'm sure." 

Her eyes begin to glaze over and she gets a distant look in her face, almost as if she is in another world. Wilson notices this and pulls her close to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Its ok. You're safe now. Nothing bad is going to happen, I got you."

Hearing him say this makes Mary feel better. She wipes away her tears and nuzzles into him, finding a comfortable position. 

"Ok, time for a different subject. What's going on with your brothers and sisters?"

"I really don't know. I haven't talked to anyone besides you and Lucy in days."

"Oh, OK."

Mary gets very quiet, but finally speaks. "Wilson, can I ask you something?"

"Anything. Shoot."

"Is something actually dead if it is never born?"

"Um…well…I really don't know how to answer that. What do you think?"

"I'm not really sure, that's why I asked."

"Maybe your dad could answer that one."

"Probably, but I don't want to ask him. Then he'll start asking me all these questions and I don't want to talk about it with him. He has no idea what it's like for me."

"Well neither do I."

"Yes you do. You were in there with me in the hospital, you saw me."

"He saw you too, before and after."

"But when you were in there with me, I let a side of me out that I try so hard to keep inside. I let you see that I was scared and hurt. I trust you to keep that between us, and not make a big deal out of it. I don't trust him."

"Do you want to talk?"

"Yes, I do. I can sum it up in one sentence. I want my baby back."

"Remember when I said everything happens for a reason?"

"Yeah. Why did this happen?"

"Maybe God thought that you weren't ready to have a child."

"Why though? I think I'm ready."

"Your not even 18. You still have a lot of growing up to do."

"Well, so did you, and you were even younger than I am, but you still have Billy."

Wilson winces at the thought of those memories. "After all I went through, I grew up very quickly."

"So did I. That was the one good thing about all of this. Sure it would have been challenging, but I was ready and willing to tackle it. I wanted to be a mother. I still want to be a mother. Having my baby literally sucked out of me was nothing shy of horrific. That hurt so much to watch them do that, to literally feel my baby being taken away from me. What did I do wrong? Why didn't God want be to have this baby?"

Tears are streaming down her face and Wilson begins to get choked up as well, getting lost in the moment. "I don't know, Mare."

Reverend Camden walks into the living room and finds the two of them crying. "Is everything OK you two?"

"Yes." Mary answers instinctively.

"Actually, Reverend, could we talk to you?" Wilson asks. Mary looks up at him with betrayal in her eyes. He ignores her and proceeds to speak.

"I just wanted to ask you a question."

"Sure. I have some time."

"I wanted to know if God played any part in miscarriages."

"Well, uh, yes I believe he does. God has a role in everything. In this case though, sometimes I believe that God knows things that we ourselves cannot. He can tell if things are going to be difficult, or easy, or too tough for us to handle. God never likes to see us suffer, so I think that he might take actions that are better in the long run, for everyone involved. God might make a woman have a miscarriage because the baby is sick, or the mother is truly not ready to be a mother, or it just wasn't the right time."

"But what if the one good thing finally happening in someone's life was having this child, and it's taken away from her?" Mary asks her father, opening up to him for the first time in a week.

"Well, then the mother would just have to grieve, and lean on her friends and family for support until she can get over this."

"Dad, is something dead if it was never born?"

"Um, yes, because even though it wasn't born yet, it was still alive."

Mary starts to cry huge crocodile tears, and Eric doesn't know what to do. 

"Thank you, Sir." Wilson tells him. Eric nods and leaves the room.

"I understand, but I don't want to. How can you be so attached to something you've only known about for a couple of days?"

"Easy."

"I-I"

"Shh…calm down. Shh."

Mary leans on Wilson and cries on his shoulder. They sit like that for 20 minutes until she finally pulls away from him. Both of them stare at each other, at a loss for words.

"I feel better now, really. Thanks."

"I'm glad."

"It does feel better to talk about it, a little. I think its just going to take time."

"You know, you might never get over this, but that's OK. No one is forcing you to, except for maybe yourself. Eventually, you'll just learn to deal with it though and get on with your life."

"I agree. Honestly, I don't think I am ever going to be able to get over this, all of this."

"That's fine. You don't have to."

"You know, I'm really lucky to have you. You make everything so much easier. Thank you."

"Its nothing. I hate to see you in this much pain. I'm just glad I could help you out."

"And thank you for the diary. I'll use it tonight."

"Your welcome."

"But, I hope that wasn't my only present." Mary smiles mischievously.

"One week Mare."

"Ok, just thought I might be able to change your mind."

"Nope." Mary pouts and Wilson smiles. "OK, I'm going to go now. You must be tired. Um, do you have any plans for tomorrow?"

"No, why?"

"Because I was wondering if you wanted to go for lunch with Billy and me."

"I would love to."

"Great. I'll pick you up at 11:30."

"Perfect."

They get up and walk towards the front door. They give each other a friendly good bye hug, and Wilson leaves. Mary goes upstairs and writes in her new diary, then goes to sleep. She awakes Saturday morning to the sounds of Lucy crying. She slowly opens her eyes and stares questioningly at her sister.

"Oh, your up. Good morning."

"Morning. Why are you crying?"

"I was just thinking about you; it's all so awful. It's not fair either. You're my big sister; nothing bad is supposed to happen to you." 

Lucy dries her eyes with her sleeve. Mary sits ups and pats the bed, signaling for Lucy to sit down next to her. Lucy follows her instructions and sits. Mary throws her arms around her and tries her best to comfort her.

"Its OK Luce. I'll get through this; we'll get through this, as a family. It isn't the end of the world, believe me. I'm here with you now, I didn't get hurt, and eventually this will all just end up being a thing of the past. Don't think about it so much. There's nothing that you can do or could have done. Yes, it was awful, but it's all over now. Everything's going to be OK. It is, I promise."

"OK." Lucy sniffles. "The whole thing kind of makes me feel helpless though."

"I know. Me too. Crying isn't going to help though."

"I'm sorry. I must be making you feel worse. Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine. I still need some time, but everything is all right."

"I love you."

"I love you too."


	11. Chapter 11

The next six days go by very quickly for Mary before she knows it; everyone is bustling around getting ready for her 18th birthday party. Lucy and Simon went to pick up the last of the decorations, Eric the birthday cake, and Annie and Ruthie were setting up for dinner- buffet style. Matt and Mary were making the run to the airport with the minivan. Even though it was her birthday, she still had to do her part. Her parents urged both sets of grandparents to fly out for her special day, in light of everything that has happened. All of them agreed, and showed up to celebrate. First to arrive were Grandpa and Ginger. 

"So Mary how is everything?"

"Its ok I guess."

"And how about you Matt? How's pre-med treating you?"

"Ok. I'm really starting to get a feel for the material."

"That's good."

They both go to get their bags, followed by Mary. Matt told her earlier that getting her off the hook with the Colonel and Grandma Ruth for a while would be considered part of her present.

Eventually, everyone has gotten their baggage. All 7 of them get into the car, and ride back to the house. Mary is afraid of seeing her grandparents and George. She sits in the front seat tapping her feet, slightly shaking uncontrollably.

"Are you ok Mary?" Matt asks her. She nods, and he rolls his eyes. The silence in the car gives the Colonel his queue.

"So Mary, are you finally back in school?"

"Yes. I went back a week ago."

"Are the kids mean to you?"

"A little."

"Well, I think they have every reason to be." Ruth interjects. 

Mary's head whips around to face her grandmother sitting in the seat behind her. 

"What? They do. You shouldn't have gone out with that criminal in the first place. Don't you have any common sense in the head of yours?"

Mary turns back around and absorbs Ruth's blows. Her anger builds inside her, but she struggles to keep her cool. 

"Don't you think your being a little hard on her?" Matt asks, appalled by her actions.

"No. I thought about it for a while and that is the conclusion I've come to."

"It wasn't her fault." Charles says, trying to stick up for his "grandbaby". 

"Yes it was. It's all part of her immature decisions."

You could cut the tension in the car right now with a knife. Mary sits there, staring out the window at the scenery passing by. _I can't believe this. Why? Why me? Why now? God, please, help me. I don't know what to do anymore._ They pull up to the house and Mary tries to storm out of the car, but Matt grabs her arm. "Stay. I want to talk to you. I'm going to take their bags inside and then I'll come back out. Don't move." Mary lets out a heavy sigh, then sits back down in her seat. _I'd go inside but I have nowhere to go._

A few minutes later, Matt returns. He gets back into the car and turns towards Mary.

"She had no right to say what she did. You know it's not your fault, right?"

"Yeah."

"Are you OK?"

"No."

"Well, I wouldn't be either. That was harsh."

"Why does she have to be so mean, though? She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"Yes she does. She hates me and she wants nothing to do with me."

"I don't know Mary. But look at it this way, they are leaving Monday morning Until then, try to avoid her. Or hopefully someone will rescue you. Dad won't let her talk to you like that."

"I hope not. Thanks for trying to stick up for me."

"I just wish I could have done more. But, you know, they're our grandparents. I didn't want to scream at them."

"I know. So, is it safe to go inside?"

"That depends on your definition of safe. I don't think you could hide out here much longer though."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but maybe I could sneak up into my room."

"I doubt it but it's worth a try."

Mary nods sadly, and opens the car door.

"Mary?"

"Yeah?" she says, turning back around.

"I love you."

"I love you too Matt. Can you do me a favor though? Don't tell them about this until they have to know, OK?"

"Why don't you want them to know?"

"I just don't OK? I can't handle all of this. Its bad enough that Mom forced all of them to come out here, now there's even more drama."

"Like I said, they'll be gone soon and everything will go back to normal."

"You don't understand. No one does. Things will never be normal for me again. I'm just trying to adjust to all of this and no one will let me. I have to live my life running from everyone, avoiding the lectures, keeping everything inside of me. I can't take it anymore! I wish they never came."

            Mary walks into the house and tries to sneak up into her room, but has no luck. Her mother spots her.

"There you are. I was wondering what was taking you so long. I wanted to ask you what time Wilson was coming."

Mary looks down at her watch, then back up at her mother.

"I'm not sure. Probably in about an hour or so."

She runs upstairs to her room, and locks the door. She turns around to find Ruthie sitting there.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Well I am."

"C'mon, be happy. It's your birthday. You're 18 now, an adult. You can run away and join the circus if you want and they can't stop you."

Mary smiles at her younger sister's attempt to cheer her up.

"Don't worry. I'm only in here until Monday. Then you'll get your privacy back."

"I like having you in here with me. I just didn't have a very good day today, or any day for that matter."

"Well maybe it will get better."

"I know just the way to make it get better."

"What?"

"Nothing."

Mary picks up the phone and calls Wilson. 

"When are you planning on coming over here?"

"In about a half hour. Why?"

"Could you come now?"

"Um, I guess so. Why, what happened?"

"My grandparents happened, or should I say grandparent. It's a long story. I'll tell you when you get here."

"OK. I'll be there in 10 minutes."

Wilson arrives, and Mary is ecstatic to see him. She tries to take him upstairs, but she remembers that Ruthie is up there. Instead, they decide to stay downstairs and play with Billy. While they sit and roll around toy cars on the floor, Mary barely speaks. Wilson realizes that she is holding something back, and tries to get it out of her.

"Mare, what's wrong? Why were you in such a rush to get me here?"

"Uh, I want to ask you something."

"Ok."

"Um, did things ever get to be too hard for you?"  
            "Things were tough, but I never thought they were too hard."

"Oh. Then never mind."

"What? Tell me."

"OK, but you have to promise me you wont tell anyone, ever."

"OK."

"I was thinking about suicide."

Wilson eyes widen in disbelief and his mouth drops.

"I was only thinking. I would never actually act on it, I swear. It just keeps popping into my head more and more often, especially today. God, I have such a headache from all of this. I just want this day to be over with."

"Mare, that's serious stuff. I don't know what to say to you."

They sit for 5 minutes, to saying a word to each other. 

"I love you, your family loves you, and we would all miss you if you decided to do something that stupid and selfish. I know you're only thinking about it, but thinking about things like that isn't good either. I-what am I supposed to do now?"

"Nothing. Don't do or say anything."

"I don't know if I can do that Mary."

"Wilson, I trusted you!"

"I know, and I wont go around telling everyone, but I'm not going to say that I'm not going to tell at all. But promise me that you'll talk to me when things get to be too much, or at least talk to someone. You shouldn't feel this overwhelmed."

"I know I shouldn't. I just think that it's all the stress."

"OK. What happened between you and your grandmother?"

"Well, she basically told me that this was all my fault and that I brought this all on myself."

"Wow. That's not right. You know that isn't true, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know. She just made me feel so awful. Then when we got home, Matt told me to wait in the car for him, and while I was waiting was when I started to think about suicide. I know that isn't the answer to anything, but I can't take this anymore. I don't want to deal with this. I don't want to, you know, but right now I feel like it the only way out of this."

"I understand what you're saying, but your right, that isn't the answer."

"I feel like I've been putting on a show for everyone for 2 weeks now. I need a break from it all- from them, from what happened, from people at school. I don't have anywhere to go though, or any reason for them to trust me enough to let me go anywhere."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. But if you really are feeling this awful, maybe you should go into counseling."

"There is no way I am telling anyone everything, or anything at this point. You're the only person I talk to at all anymore, and you don't even know it all. I mean, you know my whole life story, but there's just some things you don't know, or wouldn't understand if I tried to tell them to you. Not things, more like feelings. I know we kind of have some stuff in common with our, uh…misfortunes, but we didn't go through the same stuff. If you didn't go through it all you wouldn't understand."

"I get it. You don't have to tell me everything either. But whatever you do want to tell me, I'm here to listen."

"I know; that's what I like about you."

They sit for a while, just enjoying each other's company. Lucy comes in, and tells them it's time to eat. She smiles when she sees the two of them together, and how happy they seem. Mary gets up and walks into the kitchen, followed by Wilson carrying Billy. While they are serving themselves dinner, Wilson steals Lucy for a second. 

"I want to do something special for Mary. Do you think you could watch Billy for me for like 20 minutes while we talk later?"

"Sure, no problem. What are you going to do?"

"Well, has she talked to you about me and her?"

"A little. Don't tell her I said anything, but I think she's fallen for you again."

"I know. That's what our talks going to be about."

"Oh." Lucy nods. "Wait, good or bad?"

"Don't worry, its good. Don't say anything though. I want to kind of surprise her a little."

Wilson explains his plain to Lucy, and she approves. Wilson sits down next to Mary, and they hold hands under the table as they eat. He watches what a struggle it is for her to just sit with her family for even one meal. Everyone is good though, and tries to steer clear of the topic of Mary's life throughout dinner. After they finish, Annie brings out the cake. 

"Why does the cake have 19 candles? I thought Mary was only eighteen." Ruthie asks her mother.

 "18 for her age and one for good luck." She explains.

"I could use at least two or three." Mary whispers to Wilson. 

He smiles and softly touches her hair. Mary blushes, and gets and suddenly becomes filled with happiness inside of her. As she blows out her candles she makes her wish. _I wish everything works out for Wilson and me._ Annie cuts the cake and everyone gets a piece. After cake, Mary opens presents. She receives the usual, a new basketball, some t-shirts, and homemade cards from her brothers and sisters. She is hurt that she did not get a present from Wilson. He notices this and walks over to Lucy. He whispers something to her and walks out of the room. Lucy picks up Billy and walks over towards Mary.

"Wilson said he wants to see you in the living room."

"Ok." 

Mary walks out to the living room and slides apart the doors. Inside she sees Wilson, standing there with a big red bow on his head. Mary laughs uncontrollably, and then Wilson joins her. After they calm down, Wilson grabs her in his arms. He leans down and kisses Mary softly on the lips. Once the break the kiss, they both linger inches from the other's face, eyes closed, enjoying the sensations of sheer joy they are both experiencing.

"So what exactly does this mean?"

"I've thought about this a lot, and if this is what you still want, then I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to give it a try."

"You mean us?"

"Yes, us. Is that what you want?"

"Yes, definitely."

They kiss again, this time a little more passionate then before.

"Before, when you said you loved me, did you mean it?"

"With all my heart."

"I love you, too Wilson." Tears form in Mary's eyes, and Wilson get worried.

"No, I'm ok. I'm just happy."

"Good."

They kiss again, this time more passionate than the last. They break the kiss in need of air and sit down on the couch. They kiss once more, and then Mary lays her head on Wilson's chest.

"I like this. I've been waiting to do this again for a while now."

"Me too."


	12. Chapter 12

They reluctantly decide it is time they spend some time with the rest of the Camden family. As they walk out of the living room and into the foyer, the doorbell rings. Mary shrugs her shoulders and answers the door. Standing there in front of her is Robbie.

"Happy Birthday Mary."

"I-uh-I…hold on one second. Don't go anywhere. I want to talk to you. Wilson! Wilson come here quickly!"

Wilson runs back into the foyer and over to Mary. She is white as a ghost and using the table to hold herself up.

"What's wrong?"

"That's Robbie." She points at him. " Don't let him leave. Can you catch me please?"

Wilson looks at her like she's crazy. She closes her eyes and falls backwards. He scrambles to catch her. He gets her just before her head hits the floor. He looks contemptuously at Robbie, and then calls for help.

"Reverend Camden! Mrs. Camden! Come quickly!"

They both run into the room and are shocked to see Robbie standing there.

"What happened?" Mrs. Camden asks.

"I'm not quite sure. She just fainted."

"Can you lift her?"

"I don't know, I think so."

"Could you lay her on the couch for me?"

"Sure." 

He picks her up and brings her into the living room. He lies her down, as he and Annie try to shake her awake. Reverend Camden has been joined by his father, The Colonel, as they grimace at Robbie.

"What are you doing here?"

"I remembered it was Mary's birthday. I wanted to talk to her."

"Do you have any idea of the amount of pain you have caused my daughter?"

"No, I don't."

"And you have the nerve to just show up on our doorstep and expect for her to talk to you."

Wilson walks into the room and stands behind the two men.

"Go home, son. No one here wants to see you." The Colonel tells him.

"Wait. Mary said that she wanted to talk to him. I don't want him to stay, either, but maybe we should let him, in case Mary really does want to see Robbie." Wilson says.

"She did say she wanted to talk to me." Robbie pleads.

"Fine. 10 minutes, tops. If she's not up by then you have to go."

"Sure."

Wilson walks back into the living room to check on Mary. Annie and Ginger are both at her side, but are having no luck. 

"Wilson, can you watch her please? I'm going to go get some water." Annie says.

"And I'll go get a damp washcloth. Maybe that will help." Ginger adds. 

They both rush out of the room, and leave Wilson alone with Mary. He grabs her hand and stares at her. _Even while she's out cold she looks upset._ He shakes her hand back and forth and lightly touches her face. He waits to see if she stirs, but she doesn't. He kisses her lightly on the forehead. _C'mon Mare, wake up._ She rolls towards him and blinks her eyes. 

"Mmm." She moans. "Wilson. What happened?"

"You fainted, but I think you're OK." He tells her. "She's awake!" he announces to the entire house. Everyone come running in, including Robbie.

"For some reason I thought that Robbie was here." She says to Wilson. Mary looks over the edge of the couch and lays eyes on her attacker.

"Hi Mary."

Mary lets out a bloodcurdling scream that is so loud; it rattles the dishes in the kitchen. She jumps backwards, almost falling off the couch, and tightly grabs hold of Wilson's sweater.

"What are you doing here?"  
            "I wanted to talk to you. That is, if you want to talk to me."

"I don't know about talk, maybe yell." 

She turns to the rest of her family. "Can I have a couple of minutes alone with Robbie?" Everyone mumbles their comments as they all turn to leave, including Wilson. "Wilson wait." She calls to him. Mary pulls him to her and whispers in his ear, "Watch us from the door. I don't trust him." He nods and leaves the room. He slides the doors closed, but leaves a tiny crack open so that he can see inside. He can hear Eric and Annie in the kitchen, hysterical that their daughter is again alone with Robbie.

Wilson listens intently to their conversation, ready to spring into action at the slightest hint of danger. Mary and Robbie just sit there, not saying much.

"Um, happy birthday."

"I hate you."

"Why?"

"Because you ruined my life."

"How did I ruin your life?"

"Let's see, by raping me!"

"I did not rape you!"

"Yes you did."

Silence.

"Look, if you didn't come to apologize, then why are you here?"

"I wanted to see if we could maybe get back together, and then eventually, you know."

"No I don't know. Explain it to me Robbie."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes."

He puts his hand on her arm. "I liked having sex with you Mary."

Mary becomes enraged and tries to pull away from Robbie. He tightens his grip on her arm and won't let her go.

"Ow! You're hurting me. Let go!"

Wilson walks through the door and stands between Mary and Robbie. He pulls him off of her. Mary hides behind Wilson, terrified by the whole ordeal.

"Who's this Mary?"

"This is Wilson, my boyfriend"

Robbie is flooded with anger, all directed at Wilson. He punches the side of his face, and Wilson stumbles backwards. Mary makes sure he doesn't fall over, and then turns to Robbie.

"I can't believe I ever liked you."

"Same here. I'm leaving, but I'll be back. Believe me Mary, this isn't over. I'll get what I want from you."

Robbie walks out of the house and slams the front door behind him.

"Did he hurt you?" Wilson asks Mary.

"No, not really. Oh my god, look at your face. How bad is it?"

"It stings a little bit. I'll be OK. I'm more worried about you."

"Don't be. I'll be fine."

"I hope so Mare."

"Let's go get you some ice or something."

"Ok."

"And Wilson,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. I don't know what he would have done to me if you weren't here to protect me."

"It was nothing. I was just doing what I had to do. I couldn't just stand there and watch him hurt you."

They walk into the kitchen, where the whole party has stationed for the time being. As Mary gets Wilson something for his face, they are bombarded by questions. 

"You know, it's been a long night. Maybe its time everybody goes upstairs and gets some sleep." Annie suggests.

"Oh yes. Boy are we tired from that flight. Let's go everyone." The Colonel says, leading the troops up. Lucy is the last one up the stairs, dropping Billy back off with Wilson.

Mary and Wilson sit at the island, as Annie and Eric pace the room.

"Are you ok?" Mrs. Camden asks Wilson, stopping in front of him.

"I'll be alright."

"And you?" Eric asks, turning to face his eldest daughter.

"I'm fine."

"Are you really? Because we don't know anymore."

"What are you talking about?"

"Talking, is that what this is? I'm surprised your familiar with the concept."

"What?!"

"We don't know if you're OK, none of us do. You don't tell us anything anymore. For the past 3 weeks, you've kept us all in the dark about anything that's going on in your life. Why? Why won't you tell us?"

"I don't want to. I keep the details of my life on a need to know basis. Do you have a problem with that?"

"Yes, because eventually you will too. It's not good to keep everything bottled inside of you. You have to let it out. You have to get your emotions out."

"I do. This lecture was not well researched Dad. Did you know that I have talked to Wilson everyday, whether it be in person or on the phone, for 3 weeks? Did you know that I tell him how I'm feeling, exactly how I'm feeling, all of the time? Did you know he gave me a diary as an early birthday present, so that when I didn't want to talk to anyone I could still let everything out? Did you know that I've written in it everyday since he gave it to me?"

"Um, no, I didn't But-"

"I'm not finished. And did you know there's a reason I don't talk to you and mom, or really anyone else for that matter?"

"We figured there was one, but we couldn't really figure it out."

"OK, I'm telling you this hoping you won't take it the wrong way. I trust Wilson."

"And you don't trust us?" Annie asks, genuinely hurt by Mary's comment.

"No, because you do things like this. Everything ends up being a big deal with you. I don't want a lecture every time I say something. Wilson doesn't do that. He's a god listener. You guys talk too much. And I feel comfortable telling Wilson everything. There are some things I just don't want to tell you about."

"When did we loose you?" Eric asks her.

Billy started to get restless on Wilson's lap. "Maybe we should go."

"No, stay." Mary insisted.

"Billy's tired."

"Fine, I'll walk you out."

Wilson and Billy say good-bye to Rev. and Mrs. Camden, and then head towards the door. Mary follows them, checking behind her to make sure her parent's could not see her.

"And they wonder why I don't talk to them." she says to Wilson.

"They're only trying to get involved in your life. They're concerned about you."

"I know, but I don't have to tell them anything. Right?"

"I guess."

"Do you have to go?"

Wilson turns around to reveal Billy's sleeping face. "Yes, I have to go." He leans down and kisses her innocently.

"Could you come back? I mean after you put Billy to bed. You could spend the night."

"Why? I think you're parents will be done talking to you by then."

"I doubt it, but that's not the reason. I'm scared. I don't want to be left alone."

"You won't be alone. There are 12 other people in your house."

"They're no help."

"If you want me to come back, I'll come. You think that'd be all right with your parents?"

"I guess so."

"I'll be back in a half hour, 'k?"

"Yeah."

They kiss again, and Wilson walks out of the door. 

"Wait! What should I say to them?"

"About what?"

"About us."

"If they ask, don't say anything before I get back. We're in this together."

"Ok. Hurry back."

"I will. Now go back to the kitchen."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you do." Wilson puts Billy in his car seat and closes the car door. "Good bye."

"Bye."

Mary walks back into the kitchen and sits down in the seat she had from before.

"Finally, your back. Now, where were we?"

"Do we have to do this?"

"Do what?"

"This, this interrogation."

"No, I guess not. We'll just skip right to the point then. Even though you are talking to Wilson, your mother and I feel that you should go into counseling."

"That's what this is all about? No! Forget it. I don't need counseling. I just need time."

"That's what you said before and we don't see any real improvement."

"Well, after the last time I talked to you, a lot has happened. I lost the baby, went back to school, knew for a week that everyone was coming in for my birthday, everyone's now here for my birthday, Robbie came back, and Robbie punched Wilson. It's like every time I started to stand up something pushed me back down. I am doing better though, even ask Wilson."

"You know what I think that's a good idea. We'll talk to him tomorrow."

"You wont even have to wait that long. He's coming back over after he puts Billy to bed to spend the night with me."

"By spend the night you mean…"

"Sit with me on the couch."

"OK, good. Why must he spend the night though?"

"Because Robbie threatened to come back."

"I doubt he's actually going to come back tonight honey." Annie says.

"You never know. I didn't think he was going to show up ever, but there he was."

"What exactly did happen in there with him?"

Before Mary gets a chance to answer them, Lucy comes down the stairs.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to interrupt, I just wanted to find out what happened."

"Perfect, because I don't feel like saying this over and over again. Sit."

Lucy sits down next to Mary, and stares across the table at her parents. She can tell they are a little annoyed, but doesn't think much of it.

"Robbie acted like nothing happened, and I lost it and told him he ruined my life. He asked me how, and I told him by him raping me. He said that he didn't rape me! Can you believe that? Then he told me that he came to get me back because he liked having sex with me, and we wanted to do it again! He grabbed my arm, and wouldn't let go, but Wilson came in and pulled him off of me. He punched Wilson and then left, but he said he'd be back."

The three of them look on in horror and disbelief at Mary as she tells the tale of what had happened to her that night.

"Are you ok?" Lucy asks.

"I'll be fine. I'm just a little shaken up by all of this."

"My poor baby! Annie remarks, putting her arm around Mary.

"I've just had a revelation." Eric proclaims. "The two of you are never dating again. I'll lock you up until your old like me."

"Dad!" Mary says

"OK, ok. I've had about all I can take for one night. I'm going to bed. You too Luce."

"Yeah, I'm tired. Good night."

"Luce?" Mary calls after her. "He told me what you did. Thanks for helping him out, I owe you."

"Your welcome. So everything worked out OK?"

"Better than OK."

Lucy smiles and walks up the stairs, and leaves the three of them behind.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing. Lucy did me a favor and I thanked her for it. No big deal."

"Uh huh. Sure."

"What? It's the truth."

"Oh, ok."

"Look, if we're done here, I'm going to take a quick shower before Wilson comes back. Ok?"

"Fine. Be warned that we'll talk to Wilson by ourselves if he gets here before you come back down."

"Talk to him till the cows come home; he'll be on my side."

Mary goes upstairs and starts the shower. Annie and Eric continue to talk about Mary after she has gone.

"Do you believe her? Do you really think she doesn't need counseling?"

"I'm not sure, but at least she's talking to someone." Annie says to her husband of 21 years.

"Yeah, but I'm still not comfortable with her confiding everything in Wilson like this. Just like I'm not comfortable with him spending the night, but I couldn't tell her no."

"I know, me either. I still can't believe what Robbie said to her. He liked sleeping with her and he wants to do it again!"

"Believe me, I hate it as much as you do. I wish there was something we could do."

"What do you mean?"

"About Robbie"

"Oh. Well, we could press charges, but Mary's not looking for that. I think that all she wants is to forget about all of this, but no matter how hard she tries she just can't."

"Its not that easy to just forget about this kind of stuff. You heard the example she gave us. Everything is snowballing."

"But would a counselor have really helped her through all of that? He couldn't have prevented any of it, that's for sure."

"Yeah, I know."

"And you have to admit that she was doing better before she found out she had had a miscarriage. Then it all went downhill."

"Yes, it did. But I think that if she doesn't get help, professional help, she'll keep going downhill."

"I understand what your saying, but I'd have to disagree." Annie stops talking and her eyes go towards the front of her house. "Did you here someone knock?" 

Annie gets up and answers the door. She sees Wilson standing there, and lets him in. Annie explains to him that Mary will be downstairs in a second, but that she and Eric want to talk to him.

"Does she really tell you as much as she says she does?" Eric asks.

"Pretty much. She confides a lot in me."

"Ok, let me ask you something. Mary's not here now, so honestly, do you think she should go into counseling?"

"I really don't know Reverend. But I do know that if you forced her into it, she would get really mad, and probably wouldn't benefit from it because she would be so angry. But, she's been acting really strange. One minute she'll be happy, the next depressed, then happy again, then she'll start crying. Basically, she's hurting. I don't know if counseling would make it hurt less, though. She says she just needs time, and I partially agree with her on that. She was doing fine, err better, until…"

"We know."

"If she does get really depressed, or starts acting strange, or threatens to do anything drastic, feel free to call or beep me. I'll be over in a heartbeat. If anything like that happens, that is."

Reverend Camden looks at the stairs, and hears and sees nothing. "What are you getting at Wilson? Tell us."

"I don't know if I should say anything. I promised her I wouldn't, but-"

"Is it important?" Annie asks him.

Wilson is now very uncomfortable. _I hope Mary comes down soon. _Just as Wilson thinks that, Mary clomps down the stairs and back into the kitchen. She sees Wilson and smiles. He smiles back. As he stares at her, everything in the room seems to disappear until she is the only thing left. He feels like they are the only two people in the universe. Mary whispers something in his ear, and everything comes back into focus. He is not listening to her words; he is concentrating on her warm breath teasing his ear. He blinks his eyes and asks her to repeat herself.

"Is everything OK?"

He nods his head.

"Should we tell them now?"

"Sure why not."

Mary sits down in the seat next to him, and grabs his hand for support.

"Mom, Dad, Wilson and I want to tell you something."

"Ok." Mrs. Camden replies, already realizing what they are about to say.

"How would you feel about me and Wilson, sort of, dating again? I mean of course we wouldn't really actually date because I'm not ready to yet, but you know, we want to take our relationship to the next level."

"By that you mean?" Eric asks, concerned.

"From friend to boyfriend. Would that be OK with you two?"

"Is this what you want Mary?" her mother asks.

"Yes, it is. This isn't a spur of the moment decision, either. I've been thinking about getting back together with him for months."

"Months?"

"Yeah. I kind of found this picture in my drawer and I couldn't stop thinking about him."

"Is she pressuring you into this Wilson?"

"No, she's not. Actually, she approached me about this a while ago, and I've put a lot of thought into this. I know that our friendship could suffer from this if we break up, but I'm willing to take that chance."

"And so am I." Mary cuts in. "We're going to see each other whether you think it's a good idea or not, but your opinion does matter."

"Well, if that's what you both want, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you." Eric informs them.

"I don't think I'll have to." Mary says, squeezing Wilson's hand. "So what did Wilson say?" she asks her parents.

"You were right, he was on the same side you were. This still isn't over though."

"Whatever. Come on Wilson, let's go. I'm all talked out."

They go into the living room and sit on the couch. 

"How's your face?"

"My mom freaked, and Billy hit it by accident, but other than that it's fine."

"I'm so sorry about all of this. I shouldn't have dragged you into my mess. I feel awful."

"Its OK. I'm glad I could help, really."

Eric pokes his head in the living room and makes eye contact with Wilson.

"Wilson, I have a blanket for you upstairs. Would you like to come with me to get it?"

"Sure sir."

He gets up and follows Eric out of the room. 

"Wilson, spend the night with her, talk to her, and you can decide in the morning if you want to tell me what you were hinting at before."

"Ok. Thanks Reverend."

"Now, does this have to do with you or Mary?"

"Mary."

"OK, that's what I thought." Eric hands Wilson a blanket and they walk back towards the living room. "I'm trusting both of you. Don't take advantage of that trust."

"We won't, Dad." 

"OK. Good night."

Eric leaves and Mary lets out a heavy sigh. She leans her head on Wilson's shoulder, and he runs his fingers through her hair.

"Wilson?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think he'll come back?"

"I don't know Mare. I hope not."

"Me too. I don't want him to hurt me. Do you think he would?"

"Yes. Did he ever hurt you before?"

Mary lifts her head off his shoulder. She slightly raises the side of her shirt, exposing the side of her stomach. Wilson sees the big purple bruise on her side, almost looking like a port wine stain. She then pulls down the front of her shirt, exposing a horrific black and blue on her collarbone.

"H-he did that to you?"

She merely nods, too ashamed to speak. 

"When?"

"When he raped me"

"Oh Mare. Does it hurt?"

"The one on my hip does. For a week it hurt to put pants on."

"Do your parents know about this?"

"No. Don't tell them. I don't want them to worry about me. I'm fine."

"Are you, really?"

"Honestly? Sometimes I'm not so sure. All I can say I right now I'm ok."

"Were you OK all day?"

"I was fine until my grandmother yelled at me. Then I got better when you came, but when Robbie showed up, I don't know. I wasn't really feeling, like, ok or not ok, I was just scared."

"Then why'd you want to be alone with him?"

"I figured he came by for a reason. And he did," she starts to cry, "to try to get me to have sex with him again."

"Well-"

"Wilson, can we just sit here and not talk for a little? I want to gather my thoughts."

"Sure Mary."

Mary pulls away from Wilson and leans against the other end of the couch. She finds a comfortable position, and stares blankly in front of her. He takes the blanket and covers her with it. She looks up at him, and he can see that she is crying.

"It'll be OK eventually, don't worry."

"I want it to be OK now."

"I know. What do you want me to do for you? I don't want to see you this upset."

She sits up and leans against him once again, fitting her head perfectly in the crook of Wilson's neck.

"If you really want to help me, lie down, I'm tired."

Wilson looks at her, unsure of her motives. She pushes him onto his back in his dumbfounded state. She lies down on the side of him with the blanket, and pulls his arm around her. 

"What are you doing? What if your parents or someone else sees us?"

"I'll take full responsibility. I'm innocent I swear. I just feel better if you're holding me. I know I'm safe."

Mary closes her eyes and falls asleep almost instantly. Wilson watches her as she sleeps. _I really love her._ Wilson shuts his eyes and falls asleep as well. Hours later, Wilson is awaken by Mary turning in his arm. He slightly opens his eyes, and notices that she is mumbling in her sleep.

"I said no! Get away from me! I don't want to!"

Wilson gently shakes her until her eyes open and meet his. 

"You were having a bad dream." Wilson sees the fear in her eyes and can feel her quickened breathing. "Its OK. I got you. I won't let anything bad happen."

She buries her head into him and sobs on his shoulder. 

"It was happening all over again, only this time you were there. But he got through you, and still did it to me."

She cries a while longer, until some of the pain subsides. 

"Wilson, I can't keep living like this. I haven't gotten a full nights sleep since this happened. And I have all this pain inside of me." She speaks between sobs, "Make it stop."

Wilson and Mary both sit up. Wilson takes Mary's arms and turns her towards him. He can barely make out her face in the darkness.

"Mare, Mary look at me."

She looks up at him. He wipes the tears from her eyes, as she calms down.

"Do you think you need help?"

"Maybe, but I don't want it. If I did see someone, you know, actually went for counseling, do you think it would make me feel better?"

"I don't know. I don't think it would hurt though."

"But I really don't want to go."

"I know, and that's why it might not work. You have to be in the right frame of mind for someone to be able to help you. And besides, all those people really do is convince you that this wasn't your fault, and you know that already. Don't you?"

Mary nods. "I'll have to think about it. If I do decide to go though, would you come with me, please?"

"Sure."

She thanks him with an innocent kiss.

"Mare, I'll do whatever it takes to make you feel better. You just name it."

"OK then. Lie down; I'm exhausted. We'll talk more tomorrow, ok?"

"Sure."

They lie back down, in the same position they were in before. But just as their eyes close, Mary hears something. She sits up and pulls Wilson up with her.

"Someone's coming downstairs."

They can see I figure walking down the stairs, but cannot make out who it is due to the blackness that encompasses the old house at night. The person comes to the bottom of the steps and walks into the living room. Mary yawns, wanting to be able to go back to sleep.

"Luce?" Wilson says, squinting his eyes.

"Wilson? Where's Mary?"

Mary gets up and turns the light on. "Right here." Lucy and Wilson are both startled. If it's just you Lucy I'm going back to sleep. I thought it was mom and dad."

"I just came down to tell you guys that I can hear you in the attic, so I'm sure the rest of the house can hear you too. You didn't wake me up or anything, I just thought you'd like to know."

"Oh, ok. Thanks."

"And Mary, your not coming back upstairs tonight, are you?"

"Nope."

"Ok, because Ruthie's sleeping in your bed."

"That's fine. Good night." She turns off the light and sits back down on the couch. "Now we can sleep."

They lie back down, Mary on top of Wilson. He kisses the top of Mary's head lightly.

"Good night."

"'Night. I love you."

"Love you, too."

They finally fall asleep, and this time stay asleep. In the morning they wake up, and go have breakfast with the rest of the house. Annie feeds 15 people pancakes and cereal. After everyone has finished eating, Wilson takes Rev. Camden aside. 

"Well, I talked to her and I've decided not to tell you. But-"

"But? There's a but?"

"A big but. She might go into counseling. All I did was ask her if she was ok, and she suggested it."

"Oh, that's wonderful."

"I think I should be the one to bring it up again though. No offense, but I think if you try to force her into it again, it might be just enough for her to decide against it. I'll bring it up casually one more time, and I think that should do it."

"Thanks Wilson."

"And one more thing. Mary asked me if I would go with her if she did decide to do it, and I told her I would. If you would prefer for her to go alone though I would understand."

"If she's actually going to go, then your more than welcome to go with her."

"OK. Thank you sir."

Wilson walks back into the kitchen and tells Mary that he has to go home to Billy.

"Can you come back? Or better yet, can I go with you?"

"No. Spend the day with your family. They came out here to see you. If it gets to be too much, tell them. I'll stop by later today, OK?"

"I guess. But if something awful happens, it's your fault."

"Fine."

Wilson gives Mary a peck on the cheek, and let's himself out. Mary spends the day with her family. They all have a great deal of questions to ask her, and she does her best to answer them. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be, but by the end of the day she was wiped. She goes up to her bedroom to lie down for a minute, when Lucy comes in.

"So tell me everything."

"Everything about what?"

"About you and Wilson."

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Anything you're willing to tell me. I haven't had a date in a month."

Mary laughs. "OK, only if you tell me what he said to you about me."

"He didn't really say anything. He told me how he was going to surprise you, and to tell you the truth I was a little surprised."

"Why?"

"Because your usually not that quick at landing your man. Anyways, then I asked him if he really wanted to go back out with you. He said that he has this strange attraction to you that he can't ignore."

"Strange?"

"He didn't say strange, I did."

"Ok good."

"Why did Robbie punch Wilson?"

"Because I told him he was my boyfriend."

"Unbelievable! Even in your darkest hour you have guys fighting over you, literally."

"It wasn't like it was fun Luce, believe me."

"So what'd you guys do last night after we all went to sleep?"

"We talked a little, I cried, then we fell asleep. It was no big deal."

"Then why were you so startled when I came downstairs?"

Mary smiles.

"Uh oh. What did you do?"

"Nothing bad."

"Uh huh, sure."

"Really, it was innocent."

"Then why aren't you telling me?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Then it wasn't innocent. You're definitely hiding something."

"If you have to know that badly I'll tell you. We slept together."

"WHAT?!"

Mary laughs uncontrollably. "Got you. I slept on top of him, that's it."

"No wonder you were afraid I was Mom or Dad."

"It wasn't anything sexual, I swear. I was scared."

"Scared of what?"

"Being alone I guess."

"You weren't alone. We couldn't fit anymore people in this house if we tried."

"I know. That's what Wilson said. But I didn't want any of you guys, no offense. I knew he'd protect me like he did before. If I was sleeping in here with you and Ruthie I'd pretty much have to fend for myself."

Lucy giggles. "You're right. Mary, do you love him?"

"That's between me and him."

"You're no fun. I know that means you do anyways."

"I don't want to say anything. You can think whatever you want."

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Because that's too private."

"I won't tell anyone."

"Ok, how can I explain this to you? I have trust issues. Not that I don't trust you, I just don't trust anyone. I trusted Robbie and look at what happened. The only person I trust right now is Wilson. I don't know why, but that's just the way I feel. I know you wouldn't tell anyone, but something inside tells me this is where to draw the line. I'll trust you and everyone else eventually, but not right now. Besides, it's none of your business anyways. Please don't take this the wrong way, I just- I can't, not yet."

"Ok. I don't really understand, but OK."

"Thanks Lucy. It's weird. Not trusting anything requires everyone to trust me even more than they did before."

"Yeah. You know I'm here for you though, right?"

"Yes, I know."

The phone rings, and Mary answers it.

"Hello?"

"Hi Mary."

"Hey Wilson."

Lucy leans closer towards Mary listening intently to her conversation. Mary takes her pillow and hits her over the head with it. She gets up and walks out of the room.

"So, was today so bad?"

"Not that awful. They asked a lot of questions, but it wasn't completely unbearable."

"That's good. Are you feeling any better?"

"sort of. I didn't cry yet today, which is a good thing I guess, but I'm still petrified. I don't know how I'm going to get through the night without you."

"OK, so whatever you want me to do I'll do it. Come up with something and I'll help you."

"I don't want to ask you to spend the night here again. You have to stay with Billy. You probably weren't too comfortable on the couch all night, especially with me laying on you."

"You laying on me made it better."

"Well the only reason I slept at all last night was because you were with me. I'm sorry I woke you up with my dream."

"That's ok. Have you had that dream before?"

"Practically every night since he did that to me. This was the first time you were in it though. I haven't told anyone about it, only you. I usually can't fall asleep after, but after I talked to you, it helped. Having you hold me afterwards didn't hurt either."

"Well, I'm definitely not opposed to spending the night with you again. Just come up with a plan, and I'll see what I can do."

"Ok, um…"

"Well, my parents are going to the practically all night party for one of my dad's partners tonight. He's been practicing for 25 years; it's kind of a big deal, that's why it's so long. I could ask if you could spend the night here. I don't know if they'd trust me though, my parents or yours. I'll ask though, ok?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"I'll call you back."

"All right, bye."

Lucy pokes her head around from behind the door.

"Can I come in now?"

"Yes."

"You're still scared?"

"Robbie looked me straight in the eyes and said he'd come back."

The rings again and Mary answers it.

"My parents said that they don't want us here alone. They said that I could go there with Billy, if that's OK with you and your parents."

"I asked them earlier today and they said it was fine. Thank you so much. I owe you."

"The only thing you owe me is at least one kiss."

"Done."


	13. Final Chapter

Wilson and Billy arrive at 8:00 that evening. The family is in the living room watching a movie, but Mary quickly leaves with them behind. The three of them go upstairs into Mary's room. 

"Here Billy. You can color a picture for your dad." Mary says, handing him paper and crayons. Billy takes the supplies and sits quietly on the floor.

"So Mare, have you thought about counseling?"

"Yeah I have, and I decided that if I don't feel better by tomorrow, I'll go. But only if you come with me."

"I'll definitely go, no question about it. How are you feeling now?"

"Right now, kind of OK. Its weird, I don't really know how I feel. Spending the day with my family made me really tired, though."

"Well, hopefully you'll get more sleep than you did last night."

"Hopefully. I wouldn't have gotten any sleep if you didn't agree to spend the night. I'm glad I'm tired, though, because if I'm not and I try to go to sleep, I just end up staying awake thinking about things."

"Like what? What's bothering you now?"

"Well, first of all I feel bad that your spend so much time with me. You should spend your time with your son. And usually I'd spend time with him with you, but kids make me uneasy. Um, I'm still upset about what Robbie said and that I lost my baby. But basically, I'm upset about us. Well not really upset, just confused."

"Why are you still confused? You still want us to be together, don't you?"

"Yes, I do. I-I, OK, can we talk?"

"Yeah, but aren't we talking now?"

Mary laughs, realizing they are. "Yeah, but can we talk about us?"

"Uh, OK. What about are you confused about though?"

"Well, I really like you, love you. I really think I'm in love with you, and I'm not just saying that. But even I feel like I'm rushing things. If you felt this you'd understand. Its not you, you've never hurt me, but I don't want to get hurt. You have my heart, and that scares me. It really scares me because, I know you care about me, but I don't know how you really feel. Listen to me, I'm just babbling on and on." She takes a deep breath and starts over. "I love you, and that scares me. It makes me worry, worry about losing you, not now, but someday."

Wilson grabs Mary's hand, desperately trying to stop her mind from wandering. "Look, no one can predict what's going to happen down the road. Right now, everything is fine. Try not to over analyze everything. We're happy now, and that's what should matter. I love you."

"I love you too."

"And I agree with you, its scary to be in love, but you have to make my word for it that everything will be OK."

"I'll try."

Mary and Wilson sit and talk until 9 o' clock that evening. They both notice that Billy is starting to get tired, and try to decide what they are going to do for the rest of the night.

"He really should get some sleep."

"I know. He looks exhausted. He could sleep in Sam and David's room, if that's OK with you."

"Billy, would you want to sleep with Sam and David tonight?"

"Why can't I stay with you Dad?"

"Because Mary and I still want to talk, and you have to get some sleep."

"OK. Mary, are you still feeling sad?"

"A little bit Billy, but I'm feeling better than before." Mary smiles at the compassion Billy is showing towards her.

"Come on Billy, time for bed."

Wilson picks up Billy and the three of them leave to go into the twin's bedroom. Mary helps set up a sleeping bag for Billy on the floor, and helps Wilson tuck him in. As they leave, Wilson notices tears start to form in Mary's eyes.

"I know it's hard for you, but it will be OK. If it makes you feel any better, you would have made a great mom."

"Thanks. But I know the timing wasn't right. Even if I hadn't lost the baby, it wouldn't have been fair to it- no father, teenage mother and all. It just hurts that I had that taken away from me."

"I know. I couldn't imagine going through all that you have gone through in the past couple of weeks."

"Neither can I and its my life. Listen, now that Billy's asleep, would you come with me to talk to my parents?"

"About?"

"About wanting to go into counseling."

Wilson wraps Mary in his arms a kisses her cheek.

"What was that for?"

"I'm proud of you. You've really matured."

"Thanks, I guess."

Mary and Wilson walk downstairs and find Reverend Camden and Mrs. Camden in the living room with everyone else.

"Uh, Mom, Dad, can I-we talk to you?"

"Sure Mary."

They walk out into the hallway in attempts to get some privacy.

"What did you want to talk to us about?"

Mary clutches Wilson hand tightly as he wraps his arm around her. 

"If you're pregnant…"

"Reverend I can assure you that wouldn't be possible."

"Good."

Annie hits her husband in the side of the arm. "So what is it then."

"I, uh" Mary starts to speak, "I decided I want to go into counseling."

Her happy parents embrace Mary. "That's great!"

"But only under two conditions."

"You name it."

"One, I am only promising to go for two sessions. After that if I'm not comfortable I'm not doing it anymore. And two, Wilson has to come with me. He already agreed to it."

"Done. I'll call first thing tomorrow and see what I can do for you."

"We're really happy you decided to do this." Her mother says. "We really think it will help you."

"But if it doesn't, can I back out of it, no questions asked?"

"Sure."

They all hug, and then Mary speaks again.

"I'm really tired."

"Well, I'm sorry but the couch you two used last night is taken for the moment."

Mary and Wilson both fumble with a quick explanation. 

"I…uh…we"

"I saw you last night. I watched you for a couple of minutes, and it didn't look like you were doing anything. I trust you both to use your better judgment and not to do anything that I wouldn't approve of." Eric says.

"You two could just wait around until the living room is cleared out. I'd tell you somewhere else you could do but we're at maximum capacity already."

"Back porch?" Mary suggests. Wilson nods and they walk outside. Annie and Eric watch them both walk away.

"Isn't it nice to see Mary happy again? She's had such a rough year." Mrs. Camden says.

"I guess so. As long as she doesn't get her heart broken."

"You and I both know if anything happens, it will be the other way around."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. She took it pretty hard when they broke up the first time."

"Ah, but who dumped who?"

"Whom."

Annie rolls her eyes, as Eric leans in and kisses her.

Mary and Wilson are now seated in the swing on the back porch. They are holding hands, but not really talking. Mary leans her head against Wilson's chest and he pulls her closer.

"You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Wilson leans down and kisses the top of Mary's head. She sits up, and kisses his lips tenderly.  The kiss becomes more passionate, as her tongue roams his mouth. They break the kiss, in need of air. Mary puts her head back down on his chest and closes her eyes.

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

"You know that's only the second time we made out so far?"

Wilson laughs. "It figures you'd count"

"I'm serious."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"A good thing. It shows me that you respect me. After everything I've been through, I definitely deserve someone who'll respect me."

"You deserve someone who will respect you regardless."

Mary kisses him again, but lightly this time, teasing his lips. Wilson leans back in, but she turns away playfully.

"I can't. I'm too tired. I literally have no energy left."

"Lie back down then," he says pulling her close to him. "Sleep."

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me. Just go to sleep."

Needing no further coaxing, she closes her eyes. Within minutes, she has fallen into a deep slumber. Wilson watches her as she sleeps, and lightly caresses her hair. _Everything will be OK Mare, I'll make sure of it._ 20 minutes later, Simon emerges from the house.

"Mom said to tell you that the couch is all yours."

"Thanks Simon." Wilson whispers.

"Is she asleep?"

"Yeah."

Simon glances at his watch. "Wow."

"She was exhausted."

"Oh, ok. Well, good night."

Simon walks back into the house. Wilson gently nudges Mary, until she wakes up. She moans softly, and then sits up.

"I'm sorry. How long have I been asleep?"

"Only for 20 minutes the couch is free, want to go inside?"

"Sure."

They get up and go inside into the living room. They take the blankets they had from the night before and begin to curl up on the couch.

"Wait. I have to go check on Billy."

"OK, I'll come."

After they check on Billy, they cuddle on the couch before falling asleep.

"I can barely keep my eyes open."

"Its OK, I'm getting tired myself."

Mary gives Wilson his goodnight kiss. "I'm so lucky to have you. Good night."

"Good night."

They nuzzle into each other, each finding a comfortable position, and fall asleep for the night. They wake up around 9:30 Sunday morning.

"I guess we really were tired."

"Yeah. Did you sleep better tonight?"

"Much better. Now that I think about it, I didn't have any bad dreams and I slept through the night, I think."

"That's great Mare. See, I knew things would get better."

"It wouldn't have gotten any better it if wasn't for you."

When they go in to get breakfast, Reverend Camden speaks to them.

"I made a few pone calls, and Mary has an appointment tomorrow at 3:30."

"Great, that's fine for me."

"Me too." Mary says.

After breakfast, Wilson and Billy leave. Mary spends the rest of the day finishing up her homework, after church that is. Monday, Mary goes to school, and is nervous all day about her upcoming counseling session. She finally arrives home at 2:30, and waits for Wilson to pick her up at 3:00. He pulls in and Mary gets in the car. The ride is pretty silent, except for Mary sporadically asking the same question over and over again.

"Why am I doing this again?"

"Like I told you three times already, it will help you. I know you don't think it will help to talk about it, but it will. Trust me"

They reach their destination, and get out of the automobile. As soon as Mary sets foot in the parking lot, she turns around and heads back to the car.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Wilson grabs her hand. "Yes it was."

"OK, maybe it was. But I don't think I can do this."

"Maybe you can't do this, but we can, together. I'm here for you Mary, and I'm not going anywhere. I love you."

"I love you, too."

They turn towards the building, and walk in together, with the belief that love concurs all.

**THE END**

**Finally, its finished!!! I hope you liked the ending. I tried not to rush it, but tomorrow school starts I wanted to finish before that happened. Please please please review and tell me what you thought of it. I really want to know if everyone liked the way it turned out.**

*****PLEASE BE AWARE*****: I have every intention of writing a sequel to this story. The title will be "Love Concurs All". Look for it sometime in mid-September.


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